THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 21, 1995 TAG: 9503210283
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
Leaning in a chair and dropping a hand to the carpet, palm up, the researcher makes a point about sagging employee morale at NASA Langley Research Center.
How low can it go?
``See my hand?'' the researcher asks. ``It's below that. Morale is really, really low. It's been on a continual downslide.''
Langley, the oldest of the nation's dozen or so major NASA facilities, faces moderate to severe staff cuts and possible cancellation or transfer of space-related programs. A NASA-wide employee buyout is under way; 300 at Langley may elect to retire by the March 31 deadline.
Today, a NASA headquarters team will wrap up a visit to the Hampton facility. The so-called Zero Base Review Team will carry back to Washington recommendations prepared by Langley for cutting costs and streamlining.
For many scientists and engineers at Langley, it's the most trying time of their professional lives.
The 31-year-old researcher who commented on morale - like most interviewed for this story - didn't want to be quoted by name or title or identified by gender. Colleagues or management might misunderstand any critical remarks, the researcher said, and misunderstanding could increase tension.
At Langley, tension over job security is nearly unheard of - or was.
``In our culture of NASA, we're not accustomed to the layoffs that take place in industry,'' said Frederick O. Allamby, a 66-year-old Langley program manager who is accepting NASA's buyout offer. ``It's a shock. NASA was a solid institution. We went to the moon, came up with a space shuttle and now we're working on a space station. (Employees) never thought they would be put in this position.''
Highly intelligent, dedicated to research in a way not possible in the private sector and proud of the historical sweep of their work, Langley researchers have for decades been part of a kind of exclusive club.
As in any club, there have been personal conflicts and setbacks, but these have paled next to the club's many groundbreaking accomplishments.
Economical jet flight, for example, resulted from the theories and wind-tunnel tests of one of the center's researchers. Langley engineers essentially founded America's manned space program. A series of aeronautical engineering breakthroughs came from Langley labs, and two automated Viking probes designed by center engineers successfully landed on Mars in 1976.
Now, however, talk of breakthroughs has been supplanted by talk of layoffs.
``We talk about it here. We talk about it at the bowling alley and at lunch,'' said a 34-year-old aerospace technologist. ``Everyone's worried. I don't feel bitter. I feel worried I may lose my job.''
A senior researcher who has worked at Langley for nearly 30 years said that center engineers may be distracted but nonetheless remain dedicated.
``It's been the craziest time I've had since I've been with the agency,'' the researcher said. ``There is this feeling that the Republican Congress and the Clinton administration are competing with one another to cut government, and we're the innocent victims of that competition. Rumors are running rampant, (but) when I go out and talk to the people in my division, most everybody is too busy to be worried.''
Those occupied with basic science rather than applied engineering have a different story to tell. Engineers at least have devices to build or to improve; scientists are struggling to stay focused on novel ideas or new approaches to intractable problems.
``All this has been very disruptive to research. You're not sure you're going to get funding,'' said the 31-year-old researcher. ``You can't do something in a day; it takes months, often years. You go home at night worrying if your group, branch or division will survive.''
For its part, senior Langley management is trying to provide as much information as possible - and as quickly as possible - on potential change. That way, says center director Paul F. Holloway, his staff ``knows what I know.''
Nor, Holloway asserts, is all of the reorganization news bad. For Langley, change could lead to stronger, more focused research and greater opportunity for younger, less experienced staff members.
``There are people who are bitter, certainly,'' Holloway said. ``The people who make it will find this an extremely exciting place to work. It will be traumatic through 1998, '99. The pressures aren't going to go away.''
Holloway himself may go away should he elect to retire by March 31. He has said he will make his decision one or two days before the deadline.
Langley may face a more lingering problem once the dust settles from the employee buyout and reorganization: It will likely take years for younger researchers to match the experience of those who retire.
The longtime senior researcher said that, morale aside, enthusiasm remains high among his younger colleagues. And they are Langley's future, he believes.
``It's like being at a funeral and a 3-year-old kid runs across the aisle and hugs her aunt,'' he said. ``You realize life goes on.'' by CNB