Masters Forums

COBE's three instruments presented unique challenges. Each instrument had its own principal investigator (PI), so there were different executive styles. Also, the Science Working Group was constituted as co-investigator on all three instruments, so there were team-level challenges and significant conflicts to be managed, as documented in the book The Very First Light: The True Inside Story of the Scientific Journey Back to the Dawn of the Universe. John Mather is the senior project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope at Goddard Space Flight Center. His research centers are on infrared astronomy and cosmology. As an NRC postdoctoral fellow at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (New York City), he led the proposal efforts from 1974 to 1976 for the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) and came to Goddard to be the study scientist (1976–1988), project scientist (1988–1998), and principal investigator for the far-infrared absolute spectrophotometer on COBE.

Carolyn Griner tells her story of working on human spaceflight during the Apollo and Skylab Programs. She shares her thoughts on the power of leaders like Dr. Wernher von Braun can play within an organization, the importance of training the next generation, and the role of technical excellence and attention to detail. (Recorded at Masters Forum 17.)

Bryan O'Connor shares his perspectives about common themes for root causes in human spaceflight accidents through the stories of Apollo 1, Challenger, Columbia, and unmanned missions like the AC-67 rocket. As a safety and mission assurance professional, he addresses topics related to accountability, responsibility, mishap prevention, and the role of the village paranoid in battling complacency.

In a presentation to an audience of Apollo and Shuttle era engineers at the NASA APPEL Masters Forum 20 on April 22, 2011, Anne Caraccio spoke about the challenges the next generation faces and what it means to her as a young professional at NASA.

Masters Forum 17 marked a very special occasion in NASA's history: the 50th anniversary since the Agency's founding in October 1958. This presented a unique opportunity to reflect upon the amazing achievements accomplished over the past five decades, their significance, and lessons learned from those accomplishments.

Laurence Prusak is the Editor-in-Chief of ASK Magazine. He is also a researcher and consultant and was the founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Knowledge Management (IKM). Larry has had extensive experience, within the United States and internationally, in helping organizations work with their information and knowledge resources.

NASA APPEL held the twelfth Masters Forum in Herndon, VA, on March 8-10, 2006 with a full line-up of NASA and industry veterans on hand to share stories and wisdom with approximately 67 current program/project managers and engineers.

Masters Forum #12 was held March 8-10, 2006 in Dulles, Virginia. In order for NASA to succeed with its very demanding and complex missions, the organization has to be very good at sharing learning and collaboration among the centers.