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Four Questions with Roger Forsgren

Newly appointed APPEL Director Roger Forsgren shares his insight into what’s to come for program/project management and engineering training at NASA.

In May 2013, NASA’s Office of the Chief Engineer appointed Roger Forsgren director of NASA’s Academy of Program/Project & Engineering Leadership (APPEL), succeeding Ed Hoffman, who recently committed to the role of NASA Chief Knowledge Officer full time. ASK News caught up with Forsgren to discuss his new role in leading APPEL and what he sees on the organization’s horizon.

ASK News: You’ve worked with Ed Hoffman for many years as APPEL’s Deputy Director. Ed has assumed the position of NASA Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) full time and you were selected to lead APPEL. As APPEL Director, can you tell us about your position and what you look forward to most in this new role?

Roger Forsgren: First of all, I had a wonderful time working with Ed as his deputy. I learned a lot and I sincerely value the time we spent working together. I think we got along so well because our personalities and management styles complimented each other. I could always rely on Ed it’s comforting to know that his office is still right next to mine and he’s always available if I need a hand or just want to run some ideas by him.

With Ed transitioning to CKO, he’s also taking with him the Knowledge Sharing part that used to be under APPEL. This is a natural fit and I think it will get the appropriate attention under his purview. APPEL will continue our primary function of providing program/project management, systems engineering, and engineering courses for our stakeholders throughout the agency. We have a great team that focuses on continual improvement to keep the APPEL curriculum relevant and up-to-date. Because technologies change so quickly we are also always interested in hearing about new course suggestions from our NASA audience.

We will also continue to provide critical hands-on training such as the Systems Engineering Leadership Program, Rocket University, and Project HOPE. Before earning my engineering degree, I started at NASA as a technician and I always considered hands-on training an advantage because it gave me a more well-rounded perspective of how an idea is transformed into a useful product. It’s one thing to sit in front of a computer screen, but to also have the opportunity to go into a shop and build your design makes you a better engineer because now you understand the entire process.

I’d also like to make our APPEL website a clearinghouse for electronic training materials. There’s so much information out there and I’d like to help the NASA workforce by cataloguing it and making it readily available online. We are always looking for ways to enhance the training experience and making materials available online allows folks to study at their own pace.

ASK News: From your perspective, can you highlight some of the current work APPEL does that NASA practitioners should be aware of?

Forsgren: Everyone on the APPEL team understands who our customers are and we value and take their input very seriously. We have developed an outstanding curriculum because of the feedback we have received over the years. We are here for one reason and that is to make NASA program/project managers, system engineers, and engineers the best they can become. We have a responsibility to our stakeholders to develop the training they need and we are accountable to the taxpayer to make sure we implement our program in an efficient and responsible manner.

ASK News: In light of the current fiscal challenges across the government, are there partnerships or technologies APPEL has embraced in order to mitigate some of the cutbacks imposed on training and professional development?

Forsgren: Obviously, these are changing times across the government and also within NASA. Thankfully, we have the support of upper management who understands the value of maintaining a training program that is critical to an organization’s success. I think in the future, APPEL will need to collaborate with not only other NASA partners, but other training entities throughout the government. We’ve already started this by looking into the benefits of utilizing Skillsoft, a product that is available to every NASA employee via SATERN and reviewing the curriculum at the Defense Acquisition University. The NESC has some great technical expertise that we’d like to make use of in our courses and link to on the APPEL website. The Office of Human Capital Management has some great leadership programs that we’d like to learn from and, perhaps, look at ways to make these available to our APPEL audience.

ASK News: Are there new activities and services on the horizon that you’d like to share tell us about?

Forsgren: We started a program called, “The Fifth Year” where we spoke with universities and young professionals to see what courses or topics engineers may have missed out on during their undergraduate experience. It’s not a secret that engineering school is intense and that an awful lot of material is packed into those four years. What we want to do is provide a “fifth year” which would include courses that are NASA-specific, along with courses that may have been de-emphasized at universities because of the necessary focus on analytical courses.

Everyone who works for NASA should understand the Big Bang and how our solar system formed – that’s why we developed Astronomy for Engineers and Earth, Moon, and Mars. NASA engineers should also understand the value of case studies, which is the idea behind Seven Axioms of Good Engineering. To cover areas that may have been missed during their undergrad experience we’ve developed courses such as Design for Manufacturing and Assembly, Creativity and Innovation, Green Engineering, Crucial Conversations, and Team Leadership. I am particularly interested in hearing from our young professionals throughout the agency to find other areas that we need to cover. I’d like to continue the leadership Ed displayed at APPEL and stay ahead of the curve.

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