Atmosphere of Freedom

*Printed in FULL COLOR* Throughout Ames history, four themes prevail: a commitment to hiring the best people; cutting-edge research tools; project management that gets things built on time and on budget; and outstanding research efforts that serve the scientific professions and the nation. More than any other NASA Center, Ames remains shaped by its origins in the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Not that its aeronautical mission...
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*Printed in FULL COLOR*

Throughout Ames history, four themes prevail: a commitment to hiring the best people; cutting-edge research tools; project management that gets things built on time and on budget; and outstanding research efforts that serve the scientific professions and the nation.

More than any other NASA Center, Ames remains shaped by its origins in the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Not that its aeronautical mission remains the same. Sure, Ames still houses the world's greatest collection of wind tunnels and simulation facilities, its aerodynamicists remain among the best in the world, and pilots and engineers still come for advice on how to build better aircraft. In Ames's recent past, though, its engineering work on flight instead focused on rotorcraft, air traffic management, human factors and safety, and hypersonic reentry. Ames people have embraced additional missions for its future: in information technology, supercomputing, intelligent robotics; in astrobiology, synthetic biology, and the space life sciences; and advanced materials and small spacecraft.

Rather than the NACA missions, it is the NACA culture that still permeates Ames. We can build wonderful spacecraft, but we see ourselves largely as of service to those who will build the machines to settle our solar system. The Ames way to manage research starts with the scientists and engineers working in the laboratories. In an era when more decision-making has shifted to Washington, Ames leadership largely can decide which researchers to hire. They then work in an atmosphere of freedom, laced with the expectation of integrity and responsibility. They are expected to keep their angers on the pulse of their disciplines, to define audacious research goals, to be ambitious yet frugal in organizing their efforts, and to always test their theories in the laboratory or in the field. Ames' leadership ranks, traditionally, are cultivated within this scientific community. Rather than manage and supervise these researchers, Ames leadership merely guides them, represents them to NASA headquarters and the world outside, then steps out of the way before they get run over.