Building a Better NASA Workforce: Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration Book

Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY....................1
1 INTRODUCTION....................9
Workforce Issues for the Federal Government....................11
The Scope of NASA's New Activities....................12
Approach Taken in This Study....................14
2 OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF WORKFORCE SUPPLY AND DEMAND....................15
NASA's Current Workforce Demographics....................15
Labor Market Projections....................18
Trends in University Enrollment and Degrees Awarded....................20
Workforce Diversity....................22
Conclusions....................23
3 SKILLS ASSESSMENT AND WORKFORCE STRATEGY....................24
NASA'S SEITT Report....................24
NASA's Workforce Strategy....................25
NASA Make-or-Buy Decisions....................27
NASA's In-House Science Staff....................27
Committee Assessment of Workforce Needs....................28
The Aerospace Workforce Ecosystem....................30
4 THE VITAL ROLE OF PROGRAM/PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AT NASA....................33
NASA Program Management and Systems Engineering....................33
Industry Perspective....................35
NASA Recruiting Challenges....................36
NASA's In-House Project Management and Systems Engineering Training Program....................37
Improving the Supply of Highly Skilled Personnel: The Role of the Explorer Program, Balloons, Aircraft, and Sounding Rockets....................38
5 ROLES OF ACADEMIA AND OF NONTRADITIONAL APPROACHES....................44
Education of Potential Employees....................45
Innovative Approaches toTraining Potential Workers....................47
A Partner in Science and Engineering Research....................50
Academia as a Source of Expert Advice for the Federal Government and Industry....................51
APPENDIXES A NASA Letter of Request....................57
B Statement of Task....................59
C NASA List of Competencies and Current Agency Workforce....................60
D Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff....................63