SMART Scholarship opens doors for FGCU software engineering grad
5 – minute read
Jordan Kooyman, a 2024 Florida Gulf Coast University graduate, is well on the way to realizing his career goals, thanks to a Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for Service.
Today, the software engineering grad is pursuing a professional master’s degree in embedded systems engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. His tuition and course fees are covered by the U.S. Department of Defense scholarship. In addition, Kooyman is receiving a $40,000 annual stipend to cover his living costs and health insurance until he completes his studies.
Highly competitive and prestigious, SMART scholarships fully fund promising science, technology, engineering and mathematics students pursuing undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees. Recipients receive hands-on experience at Department of Defense facilities through a summer internship program.
In return, they agree to a post-graduation period of civilian employment at a DOD location equal to the length of their scholarship.
Job lined up with Air Force
After completing his studies next December, Kooyman will spend at least 2 1/2 years working for the Air Force Research Labs Sensors Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
His job duties, after receiving his masters, have yet to be determined. The Sensors Directorate focuses on affordable sensor and countermeasure technologies for reconnaissance, surveillance, precision engagement and electronic warfare systems.
“It will depend on what departments are able to hire me by the time I graduate and where my skill set is best utilized,” Kooyman said.
“Last summer and again this coming summer I have an internship with the Sensors Directorate where I am given a small project to work on with guidance from my mentor. My mentor is the person that selected me from the SMART candidate pool and offered me the scholarship and job within the sponsoring facility.”
His summer 2025 project was largely focused on writing scripts to automate repetitive processes, thereby saving time, increasing efficiency and reducing human error.
“I was fortunate to be able to utilize many of the resources offered as a part of that program,” Kooyman said.
Not the first Eagle to get SMART
Kooyman is at least the third FGCU student or graduate to be awarded a SMART Scholarship since 2017, according to the Office of Competitive Fellowships. He cited multiple reasons why it matched perfectly with his educational and professional objectives.
“I was very happy to have received it because it allowed me to get a master’s degree without having to pay the really high price of tuition out of pocket,” he said. “What I actually cared about more is the fact that it came with a job attached. I was more interested in getting a job than specifically continuing my education, but I was willing to continue my education to get a job. This let me achieve both at once.”
Job mobility as a civilian DOD employee was another consideration.
“Generally, once you get in, you’re in a good, stable (employment) market,” he said. “It’s easy to move around and find different jobs if you want to. But you also just have a secure job that isn’t going to ask 80-hour work weeks of you for months on end like a lot of the tech industry right now.”
Having a healthy equilibrium between work and personal life became a priority for Kooyman during his time at FGCU, when he found that higher-level classes meant less time available for pursuing his other interests.
“I need to continue just doing my own thing as much as possible. To be happy, I found I need to have a good amount of time to put towards my own personal projects,” he said. “Very few jobs are likely to provide that to the degree that I want. That balance is very important to me.”
A preference for embedded systems engineering
Embedded systems engineering involves designing and developing computer systems with dedicated functions, integrating hardware and specialized software to control specific tasks in larger devices such as smart appliances, thermostats, automobiles and medical devices.
Kooyman finds this discipline appealing for several reasons.
“I chose to go into that because I enjoy the smaller scale, lower-level systems. I did not really like my prospects in the job market with just a bachelor’s degree in software engineering. I wanted a specialization, and I wanted to move into that lower-level field. That was more interesting to me.”
Embedded systems engineering has a variety of defense industry applications, such as enhancing night vision goggles to improve vision and capabilities, according to Kooyman.
His outlook on work-life balance and his choice of master’s program were heavily influenced by his FGCU experience.
“I found a number of the professors at FGCU had a lot of really good experience in industry and were able to pass that on,” he said. “And it showed me, through the coursework and some classes being really difficult, and how that related to some parts of your career being difficult, that I do not want to have a job that regularly goes over 40 hours a week.”