Air Force Institute of Technology The Air Force Institute of Technology, with its main campus located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the Department of the Air Force’s leader for advanced, multi-disciplinary academic education, as well as its institution for initial technical and professional continuing education. A component of Air University and Air Education and Training Command, AFIT is committed to educating defense professionals to innovatively accomplish the deterrence and warfighting missions of the U.S. Air and Space Forces through defense-focused and operationally relevant graduate education, research, initial skills training, and professional continuing education. Since 2008, AFIT has been designated as the Air Force’s Cyber Technical Center of Excellence. The Air Force Institute of Technology, or AFIT, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the Air Force’s graduate school of engineering and management as well as its institution for technical professional continuing education. (U.S. Air Force graphic) Photo Details / Download Hi-Res AFIT is a wing-equivalent unit of approximately 450 military and civilian faculty and staff. It accomplishes its mission through four schools: the Civil Engineer School, the Graduate School of Engineering and Management, the School of Strategic Force Studies, and the School of Systems and Logistics. Through its Civilian Institution Programs Office, AFIT also manages the educational programs of DAF students enrolled in health, line, and legal programs at civilian universities and research centers. AFIT has been accredited by the Higher Learning Commission since 1960. In addition, the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET accredits several AFIT master’s engineering programs. Since graduate degrees were first granted in 1956, AFIT has awarded more than 21,000 master’s and over 1,000 Doctor of Philosophy degrees. In addition, DAF students attending civilian institutions have earned more than 18,000 graduate degrees and certifications in the past 20 years. AFIT provides initial skills training, upgrade training, and professional continuing education to an average of 30,475 students each year in civil engineering, acquisition and logistics, nuclear studies, and cyberspace operations career fields. AFIT is home to the D’Azzo Research Library with a physical holding of more than 75,000 titles. Through online databases and journal subscriptions, students and faculty have access to several thousand journal titles, conference proceedings, and e-books for their research. Library facilities are shared with the Air Force Research Laboratory, and collaboration efforts provide wider access to electronic resources at an affordable cost with the best term of licenses. Mission Educate defense professionals to innovatively accomplish the deterrence and warfighting missions of the U.S. Air and Space Forces. AFIT accomplishes this mission by providing world-class defense-focused and research-enabled advanced academic education, initial skills training, and career-long professional continuing education both on-command and on-demand. AFIT delivers graduate education in STEM; provides graduate education program management to the medical, line, and legal corps; delivers professional continuing education to acquisition, civil engineers, logistics, nuclear, and space professionals; conducts cutting-edge research in many areas including cyber, digital innovation, directed energy, hypersonics, navigation, nuclear, space, and stealth; and provides consultation and analysis support services. Vision Leading defense-focused education, research, and consultation to accelerate military superiority across all domains. Advanced Academic Education The Civilian Institution Programs Office manages the largest part of AFIT’s advanced academic education enterprise. Approximately 2,350 students are enrolled in a variety of health profession programs (e.g., medical, dental, nursing, biomedical, etc.) and another 1,100 line and legal officers are enrolled in various programs at leading civilian universities and research centers. The office also manages the Air Force’s Education With Industry (EWI) program, through which 75-80 military and civilian Airmen and Guardians spend a year with companies to learn industry best-practices and bring new ideas back to the DAF. Contact AFIT.CIWorkflow@us.af.mil or visit www.afit.edu/CIP for more information. The Graduate School of Engineering and Management is a nationally-recognized, Carnegie-classified High Research Activity doctoral institution, and is the sole degree-granting entity at AFIT. The school offers 25 research-based, STEM master’s degree programs, 14 Ph.D. programs, and 18 graduate certificate programs; of these, 12 are offered via distance learning. It provides students with several significant advantages including a more personalized educational experience; academic programs with a defense-related focus; and research on high-priority defense problems. The school maintains a typical enrollment of over 650 in-residence students and about 400 students in various distance learning and non-resident programs. AFIT’s Graduate School maintains a strong applied-research focus through its eight multi-disciplinary research centers: Applied Research Center for Hypersonics, Autonomy and Navigation Technology Center, Center for Cyberspace Research, Center for Directed Energy, Center for Space Research and Assurance, Center for Technical Intelligence Studies and Research, the Homeland Security Community of Best Practices, and the Nuclear Expertise for Advancing Technologies Center. AFIT is also home to three Research Centers of Excellence: the Air Force Cyberspace Technical Center of Excellence, the Digital Innovation and Integration Center of Excellence, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense sponsored Scientific Test and Analysis Techniques Center of Excellence, which supports more than 40 major acquisition programs in all four military services. Contact AFIT.ENE.Admissions@us.af.mil or visit www.afit.edu/EN for more information. Professional Continuing Education (PCE) The Civil Engineer School provides technical and management-oriented initial skills training and PCE courses to an average of 11,600 students a year in a variety of subject areas to prepare officer, enlisted and civilian professionals to be more efficient and effective in current and future assignments in the CE fields. The school offers more than 90 professional continuing education courses designed to meet the specific needs of thousands of civilians, military and contractors in the Department of the Air Force and joint services. The Civil Engineer School provides technical engineering, environmental, asset and engineering management and expeditionary-focused instruction. Faculty teach in-residence, on-site and distance learning courses, including synchronous and asynchronous content to Air Force installations world-wide through various streaming platforms. The school also provides the initial skills training for all newly commissioned CE officers and Palace Acquire interns, as well as skill level upgrade courses for mid-level noncommissioned officers. Contact AFIT.CE.CMC@us.af.mil or visit www.afit.edu/CE for more information. The School of Strategic Force Studies (SoSFS) is responsible for delivering PCE in nuclear deterrence, assurance, surety and policy, nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3), and cyberspace operations. The school’s mission is to develop Airmen, joint service members, and international partners to deter and, if necessary, prevail in current and future conflicts by providing relevant and responsive nuclear and cyberspace PCE and cyberspace upgrade training. In FY23, the school educated more than 3,600 Air Force and Defense Department students. The SoSFS’s Department of Nuclear Studies, located at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, provides a comprehensive PCE program that prepares Airmen to solve 21st century nuclear deterrence and assurance challenges. The Nuclear Academic Partnerships Department, headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, administers a special program in which key personnel assigned to the Air Force Nuclear Enterprise pursue certificates and advanced degrees by distance learning from AFIT, the Naval Postgraduate School, and several notable civilian universities. The Department of NC3 Studies, located at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, provides introductory to advanced courses that address U.S. NC3 capabilities, system of systems architecture, acquisitions, and deterrence policy. The Department of Cyberspace Studies, located at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, provides courses required for cyber professionals to earn their senior and command operator badges. These courses help develop skilled cyber warriors capable of supporting and fighting in a joint all domain environment. Contact AFIT.EX.WORKFLOW@us.af.mil or visit www.afit.edu/EX for more information. The School of Systems and Logistics is the DAF's provider of initial skills and PCE courses in the areas of acquisition management, contracting, cybersecurity, data analytics, digital acquisition, financial management, logistics, process improvement, and systems engineering. With more than 170 courses and seminars, the school plans, develops and conducts courses to satisfy the technical management educational needs of acquisition, contracting and logistics customers from DAF, DoD and other federal agencies. Faculty teach an average of 16,400 students a year through in-residence, distance learning and on-site instruction. The school currently offers courses ranging in length from two days to five weeks. Classes are open to all DoD military and civilian personnel and contractors. Courses are offered in-residence at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, as well as on-site at locations across the U.S. and around the world via distance-learning. The school is also the leader in web-based education for the acquisition and logistics workforce, providing Airmen and Guardians with the tools, skills and abilities to manage the entire spectrum of a system’s life cycle. Additionally, the school annually provides the initial skills education for about 800 newly commissioned acquisition and contracting officers and newly hired civilians and is home to the Logistics’ Weapon School Advanced Logistics Readiness Officer Course at Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia. Student-focused learning materials are located on the Avolve educational platform at https://avolve.apps.dso.mil. Contact AFIT.LS.EducationSupport@us.af.mil or visit www.afit.edu/LS for more information. AFIT History On Nov. 10, 1919, Col. Thurman Bane received authorization to begin instruction at the Air School of Application. The following year, the first class of seven officers graduated from the newly named Air Services Engineering School. Now, more than 100 years later, the Air Force Institute of Technology has awarded more than 22,000 degrees and more than 750,000 people have gone through its continuing education courses. Some of the most accomplished engineers and scientists in Air Force history are AFIT alumni. Air Force pioneers Gen. George Kenney, Gen. Jimmy Doolittle and Gen. Bernard Schriever attended AFIT programs prior to the time degrees were conferred. Maj. General Donald Lamberson, considered the “father” of high-energy laser weapons, earned his master’s and doctorate degrees at AFIT. Nearly 20 astronauts have earned degrees from AFIT, including U.S. space pioneers Gus Grissom and Gordon Cooper, chosen as part of NASA’s Mercury Seven and Col. Guy Bluford, the first African American in space. As the Department of the Air Force takes on the challenges of multi-domain operations in a complex, dynamic and uncertain national security environment, AFIT’s innovative education, research and outreach programs are even more important and relevant today. Now, in its second century of operation, AFIT continues to shape the ever-changing world of air, space and cyberspace technology. While the future promises to be even more challenging than the past, AFIT is prepared to deliver world-class, defense-focused, and research-enabled graduate education, professional continuing education and consultation to sustain the technological supremacy of the U.S. Air and Space Forces. (Current as of July 2024; approved for public release; 88ABW-2018-1629; distribution unlimited) U.S. Air Force Logo