Quick question – don’t think too hard about it: What is Amazon?
At one level, Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer, a public company listed on the NASDAQ. At another level – the physical – it is a collection of over 50,000 employees, hundreds of warehouses and zillions of servers. Keep reading →
This is one among a collection of videos and essays from women who contribute to NASA’s mission. They are part of the agency’s efforts to create a collaborative and supportive community of women at the agency, inspire girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to encourage openness and accountability at NASA.
One of my greatest accomplishments that I am most proud of is developing a web development training module to expose the younger generation to website programming. Since 1999, I have taught web development classes to hundreds of elementary and middle school students in two of NASA Goddard’s education outreach programs, SISTER (Summer Institute in Science, Technology, Engineering and Research) and SUNBEAMS (Students United with NASA Becoming Enthusiastic About Math and Science). During these training sessions, students are provided with hands-on experience in developing a web page while learning basic hypertext mark-up language programming concepts. Each year the excitement and passion is rekindled as I continue to teach this class and share the skills that I am obtaining with the younger generation. In the future, I hope to build on this experience and develop new educational opportunities to share what I have learned with others. Sharing my knowledge and experience with the younger generation has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my work career. Keep reading →
This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Justice and Law Enforcement medal Shauna Henline, senior technical coordinator for the Frivolous Return Program at the Internal Revenue Service in Ogden, Utah.
Year after year, thousands of people try to avoid paying federal taxes by making outlandish claims, including that wages are not income, or that taxes are voluntary, are only paid by federal employees, can be avoided because of religious beliefs or can be exempted as reparations for slavery. Keep reading →
Kathy Martinez may have been blind from birth, but she sees a lot. She sees the potential in all people, regardless of whether they have a disability. She recognizes the value of accessibility technology, and she’s a promoter of its adoption. She realizes that disabilities sometimes affect minorities more profoundly than others, and works to overcome that.
As the assistant secretary of Labor for the Office of Disability Employment Policy, Martinez has a power-perch from which to help advance the idea of inclusive hiring and technology to enable people to be fully productive. She’s traveled far from the production floor of a Kwikset door lock factory where she operated a punch press. Keep reading →
The federal government, adhering to its Digital Strategy guidelines to “pour into applications” a wealth of information, is moving to serve both the public and federal worker in their mobile efforts.
Agencies such as the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency have begun to use mobile apps to increase efficiency and ease daily operations. Keep reading →
Competitive pressures have increased the demand for superior performance by employees in every setting imaginable. Yet with a tight budgetary environment as well as workforce shifts, the challenge for federal agencies is how to bring employees’ knowledge base up to the required levels of excellence with the least disruptive impact on operations and cost.
That is particularly true as successive generations move into positions of responsibility. Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, account for 26% of the total U.S. population. Although many are postponing retirement, nationally, 10,000 Boomers retire each day – taking with them years of work experience and institutional knowledge. Keep reading →
This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Homeland Security medal Daniel Stoneking, director of the private sector division in the Federal Emergency Management Agency‘s Office of External Affairs in Washington, D.C.
When tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes strike communities throughout the United States, federal, state and local teams immediately rush to the scene to provide emergency aid and to assist in recovery and rebuilding efforts. Keep reading →
GSA Acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini announced this afternoon that the General Services Administration is instituting a hiring freeze and cutting senior executive performance awards this year by 85%.
The announcement reflected what Tangherlini described in a blog post as a comprehensive, top to bottom review of all agency operations, following the disclosure of abusive travel spending patterns that led to the resignation of former GSA Administrator Martha Johnson and the departure of several GSA executives. Keep reading →
This is one among a collection of videos and essays from women who contribute to NASA’s mission. They are part of the agency’s efforts to create a collaborative and supportive community of women at the agency, inspire girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to encourage openness and accountability at NASA.
Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that I would one day work for NASA. My name is Connie Snapp. I’m a Contracting Officer for Langley Research Center in Hampton,VA. Keep reading →
This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Citizen Services medal Lance Rodewald, Director of the Immunization Services Division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Lance Rodewald reformed the nation’s publicly-funded vaccine system so that more poor and uninsured children are protected against life-threatening diseases and the immunization process is more efficient. Keep reading →