NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

By: Jim Hodges

Damodar Ambur, Charles Harris and George Finelli outlined much of the way NASA Langley will do business in the future, then turned a Thursday meeting over to Anna Jackson, who outlined what will be, for her, a frenetic summer.

For some at Langley, it will be a summer of opportunity.

Before a standing-room-only crowd in the Pearl Young Theater, Ambur outlined the mission and principles of the new Ground Facilities and Testing Directorate, which he will head. This new directorate will oversee Langley's 16 wind tunnels and large-scale structural testing facilities, which are moved over from the Research and Technology and Center Operations directorates.

Anna Jackson, Office of Human Capital Management, outlining the process used to fill nine or 10 leadership positions within GFTD and RTD. Credit: NASA/Denise Adams

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It's the second new directorate this year at Langley, following Flight Projects, which was established on February 3. A similar directorate to GFTD was stood up a year ago at Glenn Research Center.

Ambur was appointed to the post on March 19 and has been setting up an organization. Filling leadership roles within that organization will fill his summer.

"All of the leadership positions (except for his and that of his deputy) will be competed," Ambur said.

Eight GFTD positions will be filled through a process that includes an Office of Personnel Management four-hour "Day in the Life" scenario that will take place between July 23-25. Six of these jobs will be filled immediately, with two planned for a later time. Branch heads in Materials Experiments and Structures Experiments, under Research and Technology Directorate, also will be filled at the same time.

That's where Jackson comes into play.

"We did this in 2004 and reviewed 160 people," said Jackson, of the office of Human Capital Management, who emphasized that the "Day in the Life" scenarios are not "right or wrong and they are not deal breakers. (Along with a resume and possible interview), they are another piece of data for the directors to use in making their decision."

The 2004 process involved about 70 leadership jobs during a center reorganization. After the scenarios this time, the jobs are expected to be filled in August.

The 10 jobs will be opened and posted from June 16-27 for resume submission.

The process to create GFTD began during February and was announced on March 3 by Lesa Roe, Langley's center director.

Ambur began working with a 24-person transition team to stand up the organization, determining the parameters in which and with which it will work. Eventually, 24 GFTD leadership positions will be opened.

One thing everyone wanted to make sure of was that the relationship between researchers and those charged with operating test facilities remained close.

"There is a unique partnership between researchers and operations, and we do not want to sever that," Harris said. "We must pledge together that we will not sever it."

He, too, spoke of the process of filling leadership positions. "It's very important that we fill these positions in an open, honest, fair competition," Harris said, then acknowledged that the process will take time: "We pledged to do it right, not to do it fast."

When GFTD takes over wind tunnel operations from the Center Operations Directorate, some of COD's tasks will change.

"We may need to change a few things in the organization," Finelli said. "I look at this as a way to improve services."


 
NASA Langley Research Center
Managing Editor: Jim Hodges
Executive Editor and Responsible NASA Official: H. Keith Henry
Editor and Curator: Denise Adams