Seismic upgrade completed

The seismic upgrade team poses with Center Director Ken Szalai in celebration of the completion of the project. NASA photo

The seismic upgrade team members can now hang up their hard hats with the assurance that Building 4800 is safe. The seismic upgrade in Building 4800 has been completed. The last area to be upgraded was the 1963 addition.

This project has been a challenge not only to the Facilities Design and Construction group, but to the people in Building 4800 as well. This was essential work, however, to make the building "seismically safe" and to prevent death and excessive damage.

According to Project Manager Dan Crowley, there was a concern about the seismic integrity of Building 4800, including its structural components and collateral equipment. The building did not conform to building safety standards. The seismic team investigated the building to develop a plan to protect personnel from injury or death in the event of an earthquake.

The design was done so the building could tolerate the "maximum credible" earthquake at Dryden, which would be an 8.3 (Richter scale) on the Mojave Segment, a fault line on the San Andreas, or a 5.0 on a local fault.

Women on the move

Editor's note: Center Director Ken Szalai wrote the following letter in observance of Women's History Month.

Last month we paused to consider the contributions of women to the social, economic, cultural and technological fabric of America. Barriers have been overcome by many women who have sought and achieved careers in every part of this country's life.

As Sheryll Powers points out in her monograph, "Women in Flight Research at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center from 1946 to 1995," the critical role of women at Dryden started with the first NACA pioneers at Muroc on the X-1. Since then, women have achieved positions of scientific, engineering, administrative and operational preeminence at Dryden and within NASA.

Since my tenure at Dryden I have had the pleasure of working with many outstanding female staff including Bertha Ryan, Mary Little, Leta Holleman, Connie Harney, "Boots" McNally, Grace McDonald, Harriet Smith, Betty Love, Florence Kailiwai-Barnett, Nancy Lovato, Christine Solie and dozens of others. Except for Love, these women no longer work at Dryden, but the women who do are achieving just the same level of contributions.

This Agency and this nation owe a debt of gratitude to the women of NASA for their enormous contributions to the aeronautics and space program of the United States.

Project management workshop topic

The Program/Project Management Initiative announces the third Project Management Shared Experiences Program (PMSEP).

The theme for the workshop, which will be held April 20-24 at the Ramada Inn in Hagerstown, Md., is "Creative Approaches in Project Management."

The program will provide a forum for understanding key initiatives influencing NASA project management and for learning about state-of-the-art project management tools and techniques used by other agencies and industry.

The target audience is personnel with at least five years of project management experience and expected involvement in project management for the next five years. Topics include NASA Strategic Plan, Space Station lessons learned, performance measurement, tools and techniques, virtual meetings, NASA and Capitol Hill, program development, Mars Program and NASA best practices.

If you are interested in attending PMSEP, contact Sherry Douglas at (202) 554-8677, ext. 27, or sdouglas@tadcorps.com.

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Responsible NASA Official: John Childress For questions, contact: Dryden Web Group Page Curator: Marty Curry Modified: March 31, 1998