It is so good to welcome the first spring day with the vernal equinox! The days are longer, the grass is turning green, and flowers are starting to bloom. It is satisfying to welcome the extra daylight and the warmer temperatures. This month, we recognized National Women’s History Month, celebrating women’s contributions to history, culture, and society. We hope you were able to tune into some of the STEM-related YouTube specials showcasing several highly successful women with Kellie Girardi, and the women of the Strike Fighter Squadron 213, known as the Fighting Blacklions.
Special thanks to everyone who took the time to complete Gallup’s AMC Employee Engagement Survey. Over 775 employees took the survey, and this input will help us move forward while examining ways to improve the Aeronautical Center. You may have seen the broadcast messages promoting the upcoming 2024 Southwest Region Administrator Awards. This is a great way to recognize your colleagues for work well done. It only takes 3-minutes to nominate someone, and everyone who gets nominated will be recognized!
If you drive near the Center on the southwest side, you will see that the solar array construction is well underway. The Office of Facility Management will start installing the photocell arrays in the very near future. Also, the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute’s Wi-Waves Facility is on track to be completed this May, and employees who previously worked in the Multi-Purpose Building are now returning to the newly remodeled building.
With the return of warm weather, visitors to the Center are starting to increase. A group from the Oklahoma Aerospace and Defense Innovation Institute (OADII) recently toured the Center, to discuss partnership opportunities around research and radar systems, and a group from NavCanada (Canada’s air navigation service provider) took time to come and visit with us to benchmark how the FAA Academy’s processes and procedures are designed to execute high caliber centralized and standardized technical training. We were also pleased to recently host a visit from Rajat Mathur, Staffer, at the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations to discuss the FAA’s top funding priorities in relation to operations performed by Center employees.
MMAC employees are the most generous and thoughtful in their care of others and this month demonstrated this once again. Thanks to many employees and their family members who recently participated in the True Sky Foundation’s Volunteer Night at the Regional Foodbank of Oklahoma on March 20th, committing two hours to help those who are hungry in our community. During the evening, 2,673 lbs. of food was sorted and packed into boxes. This means 2,227.5 meals can be provided to food-insecure Oklahomans.
As always, thanks for the work you do at the Aeronautical Center, helping to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world, as well as giving back in different ways to our community. We appreciate every one of you and the professional service you provide daily.
Kindly,
Michelle Coppedge
Director, Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center
