ATDM Graduates Are Powering America’s Maritime Industrial Base
Before ships, submarines and other vessels of the Maritime Industrial Base are deployed, thousands of skilled hands must shape raw material into critical components.
The Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) program in Danville, Va., ensures those hands are ready. It launches motivated individuals from no experience to defense-ready in four months through an accelerated program.
The program is located at and administered by the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR).
The results are clear: 82% graduate, and 75%-85% launch straight into jobs across the Maritime Industrial Base (MIB).
ATDM’s Six Core Goals
- Fill skills gaps at scale and velocity
- Reduce time to talent
- Expand and mobilize the labor pool
- Modernize the workforce
- Increase retention of skilled workers
- Achieve national reach and scale aligned with demand for workers
Built around 600 hours of immersive, hands-on learning, ATDM compresses years of traditional education into a straight-line employment pathway.
Four recent graduates who spoke on a panel at the 2025 ATDM & AM CoE Summit showed how the model works for participants and employers.
Margaret Abrams — Machinist, Newport News Shipbuilding (Newport News, Va.)
Abrams’s Story
- The traditional college route wasn’t working, so Abrams sought a new path. She found a Huntington Ingalls Industries/Newport News Shipbuilding job listing that started with four months at ATDM.
- She completed the CNC Machining track in June 2024, calling ATDM “a dream come true” and noting that “manufacturing was a brand-new animal for me.”
- Abrams is now a machinist in the nuclear piping shop at Newport News Shipbuilding, where “every part you touch, every piece of material you may handle is eventually going on a military vessel.”
Abrams’s Insights
- “I cannot express enough how fantastic of an opportunity ATDM is.”
- Reminder for future ATDM students: “As a shipbuilder, you are directly responsible for the project’s completion.”
Mychal Carter — Welder, Keel (Charleston, S.C.)
Carter’s Story
- Carter spent 10 years in hospitality and worked as a deckhand on Great Lakes bulk carriers.
- An Instagram ad led him to ATDM’s welding track, which he completed in October 2024. He obtained 10 of 12 possible welding certifications while in the program and also spent time serving the local community.
- Carter landed a job as a welder with Keel (his dream company) located in Charleston, S.C.
Carter’s Insights
- “This program from the beginning was an incredible opportunity.”
- Advice to future students: “It’s all on you. Everything is right here. The support is here.”
- Advice for employers in the MIB: “We’re all coming in hot. We have a lot of knowledge that we just learned and would like to apply and improve upon what we’ve learned. That’s a lot of energy that we can carry forward.”
Will Debus — Additive Manufacturing Technician, Austal USA (Charlottesville)
Debus’s Story
- Debus held a warehouse job and had completed three years of college, but he craved hands-on work that merged his love of computers with real-world results.
- He finished ATDM’s Additive Manufacturing track in May 2023. “ATDM gave me the knowledge and skill base to put something on the table, something I can be proud of.”
- Debus now prototypes ship components for Austal USA and recently completed an MIT course to deepen his design expertise.
Debus’s Insights
- What ATDM taught him: “I might not be able to say I have that answer right now, but I have the tools and the capability to go and find a way to figure that out, and I will get back to you when I have an answer.”
- Reminder for employers: “We’re still very raw coming out of ATDM. Show up for us the way we want to show up for you.”
Alex Stricklin — CNC Machinist, BWX Technologies
Stricklin’s Story
- Stricklin held various roles with BWX Technologies (BWXT), including welding and operating a waterjet, furnace and crane. But seeing the CNC machines in the shop sparked his desire to become a machinist; earning a degree looked like a 2-3-year detour.
- BWXT Management sent Stricklin through ATDM’s CNC track, which he finished in 2022.
- Stricklin now machines nuclear-grade components at BWXT and continues to expand his skillset and grow with the company.
Stricklin’s Insights
- ATDM Benefits: “ATDM cuts out the fluff and puts you where you need to be.”
- He calls ATDM “a straight-line” program that gets people “qualified, and out the door and into jobs to help the industrial base.”
A Model Worth Replicating
During this year’s ATDM & AM CoE Summit, Admiral James Kilby praised companies that hire ATDM alumni, noting they “aren’t just staying relevant—they’re getting ahead.”
ATDM’s scale-and-velocity approach is built for replication, and leaders across the Navy and industry say expanding the model nationwide is essential for sustaining a strong maritime industrial base.
Employers like HII, Keel, Austal USA and BWXT are already reaping the benefits—one motivated graduate at a time.
