@Brad – thanks for posting this on Digg. In response to your comment, I’ve added a new feature to openNASA and now have 10 shortcuts to all the good social media websites. Hopefully this will help in the future

@J. Kremer – I couldn’t agree with you more. I heard an excellent story on NPR the other week that debated exactly what you are talking about in terms of our history being lost to us because of the constraints and requirements in education. My wife is a teacher, so we have this discussion quite often. Overall, excellent comment. Next time I’m out at ARC, I’ll look you up!

I have been working at NASA Ames since 2004 and love to come to work everyday! I have met some great people and have had/still have great mentors, but I also see my tax dollars (yes, I’ve been paying them since I was 14, so I can talk a little about them) are going to waste.

Someone mentioned the “glory days” in a previous post and the reason Gen-Yers aren’t connected to that or impressed by it is because they barely know what it means. When I was in school, and I don’t know about others, there wasn’t enough school left to talk about US history after WWII, since the school year ended. And frankly it isn’t getting any better.

The science and exploration that happened in the 1900′s is lost to us because we didn’t live in it and we never really learned about it. I think I recall maybe a week in February where we talked about the Civil Rights movement, but that is far from the worlds NASA was trying to conquer. I was forced to remember the fact that Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, but didn’t know anything about the Cold War and Space Race that got him there.

What I think I am trying to say is, why is NASA surprised that their message isn’t reaching the next generation? All we’ve had is tragedy in our lifetime and nothing else to bank on. And let’s not talk about the threat from our own government to cut costs in the NASA’s program to allocate to other areas.

NASA has to become its own advocate to reach the public because if they don’t who will? They are supposed to be on the edge of technology and research and yet the current forms of communication isn’t enough. So regardless if the Gen-Y folks should wait to earn our seat, the future is here and coming quickly and we may not be asking for Director’s job, but we would love the opportunity to have our ideas considered along with the experienced person in the next office.

http://digg.com/space/NASA_s_Gen_Y_Speaks_Out

As others have mentioned in this post and the previous, I completely agree with the notion that we (Generation Y) should not be entitled to a “spot at the table,” especially with this presentation. I believe it’s proven to be a good step towards opening discussions within the agency, and especially towards demonstrating to management that they do have employees who do not fit into the Gen. Y stereotypes, who are extremely passionate about NASA’s goals and mission, and who are willing to work hard to make these goals a reality. This revelation alone is huge; and while it doesn’t automatically place us on the same caliber as folks who’ve amassed oodles of experience, it does help make a very strong point: Gen. Y recognizes existing issues and would love the opportunity to help resolve them.

While it remains to be seen whether the chatter within the agency will continue with the same heightened excitement, I believe with employees like these who’ve shown their passion, motivation, and commitment, NASA can only steer in a more positive, public-and-employee-engaging direction.

The initial fascination with all this Gen Y fresh ideas will fade among the entrenched leadership at NASA and those of you (us) pushing for it need to be prepared for a lot of anonymous, grueling, and persistent work as these ideas are hammered home again and again and again – in public and behind the scenes.

NASA won’t truly embrace all of this until it becomes clear that it needs to. Right now it does not need to so in order to survive. It can just stumble along for a while fueled by past glories. So long as eager youngsters (and enlightened oldsters) talk the talk NASA can check off the box that it is “listening”.

Whether NASA does anything interesting or relevant is often much different than what it does what it needs to simply stay alive. Somehow the equation must be readjusted so that NASA needs to think along new lines in order to survive.

The only way that will happen is if the agency is truly threatened. That may soon be the case.