A defense company visited a UMD club to recruit. Here’s what students had to say.
L3Harris, a defense company, visited TerrapinRockets to recruit UMD students for internship and full job programs this Wednesday evening.
Students had varied opinions on the visit, some excited about the idea of working in defense and others concerned about the ethics surrounding L3Harris’ projects.
Alec Johnson, a sophomore electrical engineering student, was excited to explore career options and hear from a recruiter.
“I definitely think that there are companies that conflict with people’s opinions,” said Johnson. “And if that is the case, then I think that they shouldn’t come to these.”
L3Harris develops numerous products, including advanced complex warheads and composite bomb bodies, according to their website.
The L3Harris recruiter, Gavin Velie, spoke at length about the benefits of working at the company, the perks that come with full-time and internship opportunities, and gave advice on how to better student’s chances at a position with the company before meeting 1-on-1 with over 20 interested attendees.
Neha Trikha, a coordinator involved in bringing L3Harris to UMD, remarked “I personally myself have had an internship at Northrop Grumman, and I did not find any ethical concerns.”
The sophomore computer engineering student, enjoyed the visit from L3Harris.
“You may disagree with the companies, you may use freedom of speech to protest, but it still doesn’t change the fact that a lot of engineers need jobs,” said Trikha.
Students protested defense company recruitment outside of the semesterly Computer Science Career and Internship Fair this last February, according to The Diamondback.
The defense company lobbied for ICE to accept a radio procurement contract in 2021, according to a congressional lobbying report. L3Harris was also awarded a 4.4 million Army contract in 2022 to “determine the location of targeted mobile handsets to investigate crimes and threats,” according to USASpending.
L3Harris also partnered with the U.S. Department of War recently to increase production of rocket motors that power “vital U.S. and allied missiles,” according to the history section of their website.
Tyler Autry, an aerospace engineering master’s student, felt that working in defense was almost unavoidable in engineering.
“That is the majority of choices,” Autry said. “A lot of the time, the experience, whether or not it’s directly or indirectly towards defense, translates to non-defense fields.”
L3Harris is also known to contract for civilian companies, including improving cellular bandwidth on Carnival cruise ships and connecting SiriusXM Radio to listeners worldwide on an unfurlable satellite.
As for their military contracts, the company developed dedicated soldier radios for U.S. Army riflemen in 2013, and were awarded $391 million to develop “Enhanced Night Vision Goggle-Binoculars” for the U.S. Army in 2018.
William Connolly, a junior aerospace engineering major and president of TerrapinRockets, felt conflicted about the visit.
“It is almost unavoidable to unfortunately deal with these corporations that I believe are deserving of a lot of the scrutiny that they are under right now,” said Connolly. “I just wish it was more black and white.”