As a federal agency, tours of our facility give taxpayers an inside look at our business, helping to build trust with stakeholders, especially when you can see things firsthand. It also gives insight to our commitment to transparency. Seeing business operations first-hand shows our work culture, it helps to build business relationships and can also tap into finding new job recruits. It gives our visitors a true sense of who we are as an agency, where we came from, and where we are going. There is great value in showing our guests the impact of the services we perform as it helps to drive new ideas and collaboration, further establishing the Aeronautical Center as a valued resource in our community and nation.

This month, we were proud to host many different sets of visitors including the FBI Citizens Academy, the Mayor of Oklahoma City (David Holt), Oklahoma Congressional Staff from Tom Cole’s Office, Oklahoma Congressional Staff from Frank Lucas’s Office, GSA Associate Administrator and Chief Acquisition Officer Krystal Brumfield & Victoria Wassmer, Assistant Secretary for Budget & Programs; Jennifer Funk, Deputy Chief Financial Officer; Joseph Jarrin, DOT Deputy Assistant Secretary for Finance and Budget. DOT Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research & Technology & DOT Chief Science Officer. Members of the Choctaw Nation also recently visited the Aeronautical Center. Jeffrey Vincent, in his new role as the Director of UAS Integration also took time to visit the Center and learn more about the MMAC’s efforts with emerging aviation technologies.

February also represented Black History Month, a time to recognize the achievements of African Americans and the key role that many have played in our history. The fourth week of February, we celebrated National Engineers Week celebrating the accomplishments of engineers everywhere and the value they bring to improving our lives for the better.

Due to the rapid growth of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach, the Aeronautical Center has hired Jamie Loving as the new STEM Outreach representative. She has already hit the ground running, as several large STEM events have already been held. They include INSPIRE - Junior Achievement Events held in Norman and Tulsa Oklahoma. Thousands of high school students were able to learn more about aviation through trying out a variety of aviation and air traffic simulators and asking questions of outreach professionals. The Center also had representation at the Oklahoma Engineering Fair, which was held at the Oklahoma Science Museum, where employees from the Aeronautical Center partnered with the Oklahoma State University Unmanned Systems Research Institute to host a drone obstacle course competition. At least sixteen entries from across the state participated in the competition.

We were so excited to learn about our recent Employee Engagement Survey results through Gallup, Inc. AMC organizations continue to rank higher than 99% of other government organizations in the Gallup database. Next month, we’ll be asking each directorate to share some of their team’s action plans with other organizations so that we can highlight the good work that’s being accomplished in each of the organizations. Involvement is key and we appreciate everyone’s efforts in nurturing what we believe is a truly engaged workforce.

Kindly,

Michelle Coppedge
Director, Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center