Photo By Greg Newswanger | Jennifer Carroll, a technology transfer specialist for U.S. Army Combat Capabilities...... read more read more
“Once I decided that I wasn’t going to be a teacher, I started to consider serving as a U.S. government civilian,” Jennifer Carroll, a technology transfer specialist for U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, or DEVCOM, said.
Carroll, the daughter of a U.S. Army Soldier and German national, grew up in Germany with a passion to serve her community, and initially wanted to do so by teaching French and English at a German grammar school.
Having made a different decision after teaching German at a middle school and high school in Paris, she started her world-wide journey to federal civil service that led her to a public affairs opportunity at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma, and internship opportunities at the Goethe Institute in Washington, D.C., and at the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service at the U.S. Consulate in Munich.
In 2010, Carroll found an opportunity that put her on the cusp of federal civil service.
“I was fortunate to get an offer as a strategic communications specialist with a consulting firm that gave me the opportunity to work in public affairs and support STEM education as part of the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center outreach program,” she said. “It was really the perfect match, allowing me to combine my passion for education with communications.”
During her time there, Carroll played a pivotal role in expanding the K-12 STEM education programs at what would later become DEVCOM CBC.
“I really focused on internally and externally promoting and advertising these programs,” she said. “I worked with scientists and engineers, and students of Harford and Cecil Counties, Maryland, on mentoring programs, hands-on activities in the classroom, summer camps, things like that. It was a solid portfolio of ways that DEVCOM CBC supported science, technology, engineering and math education.”
Soon after that, and nearly five years after first setting a goal to become a government civilian, Carroll achieved that goal, and all she had to do was apply for her own position.
“When the position that I was working in as a consultant was announced on USAJobs, I put in for it,” she said. “After two years in that position, I joined the STEM outreach team at DEVCOM Headquarters where I helped manage the Army Educational Outreach Program.”
Continuing the momentum she started at DEVCOM CBC, Carroll was able to manage cooperative agreements events that supported the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology.
“At the time it was something like 11 kindergarten through college programs, but one of the bigger projects I managed was the annual Junior Science and Humanities Symposium Competition,” she said. “It’s a tri-service competition for high school students across the country and overseas to compete at the national level, and that year it was the Army’s turn to host the event.”
The Junior Science and Humanities Symposium Competition is a Department of Defense sponsored STEM program that encourages high school students to conduct original research in STEM fields, and which reaches more than 8,000 high school students from across the world.
Ever an Army brat, Carroll started to wonder what else was out there, and what she found was an opportunity to serve in a DEVCOM international cooperations position.
“I remember when positions were opening up for the DEVCOM international office, I knew that it would be a great fit for me,” Carroll said. “I was hired as an international agreements coordinator, became a contact officer for our German and French foreign liaison officers, and eventually assumed the role as a Country Desk Officer for the Northern European region. It was truly rewarding to identify and form mutually beneficial areas of cooperation with foreign partners to advance the strategic research and development goals of DEVCOM.”
When the DEVCOM international office merged into the Science & Technology Integration Directorate, Carroll had the opportunity to grow her experience in the technology transfer space.
“Technology transfer authorities allow us to share federally funded knowledge or intellectual property, facilities and technologies with our non-federal partners,” Carroll said. “It’s really a win-win because it allows us to share our innovations, but it also allows us to tap into our partners and the capabilities that they have. It’s been such a great opportunity to really help make that innovation happen to protect our warfighters. Everybody here comes to work with the mission to support the warfighters, and I feel fortunate to be part of that team.”
Carroll believes she is particularly fortunate to be working at DEVCOM for two key reasons.
“DEVCOM is more than just an employer; my colleagues have become family” she said. “I feel very fortunate to be surrounded by great leaders and to have worked for amazing supervisors. And DEVCOM has given me so many opportunities for growth. Just recently, I approached my supervisor and leadership about taking a one-year temporary assignment at DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory to become a better-rounded technology transfer professional, and I received nothing but support.”
Having the ability to continually improve herself without it being to the detriment of her personal life is something that she’s found unique to DEVCOM.
“With my husband being an airline pilot and us having two young girls, DEVCOM has been wonderful and allowed me to shape my career and go into areas that I’ve expressed interest in that are also compatible with where I am in life,” Carroll said. “One of my previous supervisors always emphasized his ability to re-assign tasks across the team, but that we alone were responsible for our training and professional development. His leadership approach and support drove home that it was truly up to us to pave our own path.”
As Carroll continues to grow and develop on her own journey at DEVCOM, she hopes to share a piece of advice that similarly emphasizes that importance of forging one’s own personal and professional path.
“When it comes to your career, you have to take the bull by its horns, but you also can’t sell yourself short,” she said. “Sometimes it’s a matter of being proactive and not selling yourself short. Rather than focusing on the negative, always keep your eye on the opportunities in times of change. There’s opportunity in chaos.”
| Date Taken: | 12.04.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.04.2024 13:13 |
| Story ID: | 486616 |
| Location: | ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 23 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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