Engineer Sees Bright Future for One NASA

As part of communicating the Agency's One NASA initiative, Goddard News will feature articles from other NASA centers describing the benefits of One NASA. This article was provided by Stennis Space Center.

	Karen Vander, engineer at Stennis Space Center believes in the One NASA concept and says, "With his (NASA Admin. Sean O'keefe) leadership and his knowledge of federal administration, there's no limit to what we can accomplish."

Since coming to work for NASA in 1995, engineer Karen Vander has seen the basis for the One NASA ideals at work every day. As the executive secretary for the Rocket Propulsion Test Management Board (RPTMB), NASA's decision-making body for the agency's rocket propulsion testing, Vander provides the daily coordination of the board composed of NASA staff members from White Sands Test Facility, Las Cruces, N.M.; Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.; Glenn Research Center - Plum Brook Station, Sandusky, Ohio; and Stennis Space Center, Hancock County, Miss. Vander believes the team approach used by the RPTMB is an example of what can work for the whole agency. "The management board is the One NASA concept," she said. "The board works openly in an atmosphere of trust. Everyone has a say, but the goal is to find the best match of assets for propulsion test programs."

Administrator Sean O'Keefe introduced the One NASA concept in December 2002 by asking employees to help shape the effort through their thoughts and ideas. One NASA will require each employee to consider all decisions within the context of what is best for the agency rather than for any one organization.

"Mr. O'Keefe's support will help the agency achieve the One NASA goal," said Vander. "With his leadership and his knowledge of federal administration, there's no limit to what we can accomplish."

Although Vander sees One NASA ideals at work daily, she says the initiative can be fully realized only through hard work and cooperation. "We're doing it now," said Vander. "We just have to strengthen what we have. We have to continue to find ways to do our jobs better. We have to work as a team."

Part of achieving the One NASA goals will mean overcoming old-fashioned, center-centric ideas. "Even though we sit in different states or come from different places, we're still one organization, and we should work that way," said Vander. "What center we come from should be nearly invisible. We all need to be working toward a common goal to meet NASA's mission."

The NASA community can help further One NASA, said Vander, by being flexible. "We're going through a lot of changes now. But as long as the communication lines keep flowing, that's going to help."

As One NASA ideals improve inter-agency cooperation, Vander noted, the practice will also benefit the agency in its interactions with other federal organizations. "We're building relationships," Vander said. "We have to build on our commonalities to strengthen the agency."

"Karen has risen to meet every challenge we have put in front of her," said NASA's Mike Dawson, assistant director, Stennis Space Center, who has seen Vander put the One NASA values to work to benefit NASA and its relationships with other federal agencies. "She is currently leading the development efforts of a system to accurately and efficiently track high-valued rocket propulsion test components to be used in new propulsion system designs and existing propulsion facilities throughout NASA and the Department of Defense."

Vander is an engineer in the Propulsion Test Program Office at Stennis Space Center. Her husband, Maury, is also a NASA engineer.