Aiken native turns internship into career in full circle moment
- Colleen Hart
- Jun 24
- 3 min read
AIKEN, S.C. (June 24, 2025) — What started out as a summer internship for 23-year-old Gunner Harris turned into a full-time career at Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC).
Harris was born and raised in Aiken, S.C., and attended the University of South Carolina, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering, as well as a Master of Engineering.
In 2022, he got accepted into the first internship program offered by SRMC, the liquid waste contractor for the Department of Energy at the Savannah River Site (SRS). During that summer, he worked as a Defense Waste Process Facility (DWPF) process and regulatory intern.
During his time onsite, Harris got the opportunity to work under the guidance of experienced engineers, assisting with monitoring, documenting, and improving process operations. At the end of his internship, he left SRMC with new knowledge, experiences, and growth — as well as an offer to return as an employee.
After completing his internship, Harris, impacted by the company’s mission, returned to SRMC and began working full-time.
“As interns, we were told we are part of eliminating the greatest environmental hazard in South Carolina, and that was kind of my ‘a-ha’ moment,” he said. “I realized I was playing a part in something big, something important, that also offered me a lot of personal and professional growth.”
For the last two years, he has worked as a sludge batch lead and a system health coordinator in the SRS Tank Farms. He helps handle space management in the Tank Farms hub tanks, procedure compliance, and waste tank compilation/qualification efforts.
Even though he’s working toward the same mission, his role now in the Tank Farms is different from working at DWPF as an intern, but Harris said he would not have it any other way.
“I really enjoyed my time as an intern in DWPF, but I wanted to branch out and see what else SRMC had to offer,” he said. “I feel like I have found my people within my department — my team is great, and I really love what I do.”
In a full circle moment, he is now mentoring his own intern this summer. So far, he said that his biggest emphasis has been encouraging interns to be curious and to ask questions.
“One of the purposes of the SRMC internship is being a learner first, and a contributor second,” Harris said. “I always tell the interns to ask as many questions as they can, because there is no such thing as a stupid question. I was once in their shoes and had someone help me, and now it is my turn to do the helping.”
Through this opportunity, he has been able to take his own experiences and use them to educate and guide the interns in hopes that they will carry some of these concepts not just through their careers, but their lives too.
SRMC comprises parent company BWX Technologies, Inc. with partners Amentum and Fluor. Its team brings the capabilities necessary to accelerate cleanup at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site through safe nuclear operations, optimized and integrated mission execution, and strong corporate governance.
Media Contact:
Colleen Hart
803-208-2428