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The Rosens (L-R, Richard,
Chaya, and their daughter Jess) |
MITRE: A Family Affair
Chaya and Richard Rosen
November 2006
To Chaya Rosen and her husband, Rich Rosen, MITRE is like an extended
family. Chaya, a senior Internet applications technician, and Rich,
a senior information systems engineer, have seen their jobs evolve
over many years, working first in Bedford, Mass., and now at MITRE's
Miami site. But one constant has been the encouragement they've
received in pursuing and achieving new career goals.
Chaya started out in an administrative support position in Bedford
in 1993 and quickly moved up the ranks into the Internet applications
technician role. Over the next few years, as MITRE developed and
rolled out the corporate intranet, she worked on a project to make
the intranet resources more accessible to certain groups.
"I felt that much of the information provided wasn't user-friendly
in its service to new employees," she explains. "Working with the
intranet team, I developed the new-employee view, the first instance
of providing corporate information based on people's roles in the
organization." On her own initiative, Chaya employed and championed
the principles of knowledge management (KM), which aims to improve
the processes used by organizations to capture and share knowledge.
She developed a passing interest in the subject—one that
quickly turned into a full-blown passion. "Most of my life I have
been fascinated by how people communicate, and what it takes for
communication to be successful," Chaya says. She decided to make
KM her new career focus, pursuing this goal both inside and outside
MITRE. She earned a KM certification from the Knowledge Management
Professional Society with the backing of her managers.
Today, Chaya is immersed in raising awareness of KM among staffers
at U.S. Southern Command in Miami. She is developing new programs
to promote information sharing across the U.S. Southern Command's
J2 Directorate.
A Move from Massachusetts to Florida
Change has been the norm at MITRE for Rich Rosen as well. Rich
began his MITRE career in 1988, after working for years in the aerospace
industry as a design/research engineer, audio/video development
engineer, naval architect, editor of technical trade journals, and
a radio electronics officer in the Merchant Marines.
"I love to work intensely in an area until I find something else
that piques my interest even more," he says. He started out doing
systems engineering work for the Air Force in Bedford, supporting
the Electronic Systems Division of the Air Force's Systems Command
on strategic and tactical projects. A decade after joining MITRE,
he accepted a new position working with the U.S. Southern Command's
Intelligence Directorate, which provides intelligence support to
the military services, at the company's Miami site.
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Established in 1997, MITRE's Miami site comprises nine
staff supporting the Intelligence Directorate of the
U.S. Southern Command, also known as USSOUTHCOM.
The site's mission is to provide systems engineering,
task engineering, and communications support for intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance operations, along with
knowledge management support, to its sponsors. |
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Chaya initially believed that the couple's impending move from
Massachusetts to Florida would end her MITRE career. But her managers
in Bedford set the wheels in motion for her to telecommute—before
she even thought to request such an arrangement.
"It was an interesting challenge for my managers at the time,"
she says. "Full-time telecommuting was unheard of at most companies
at this point. But my KM work could be done on a PC from home, and
ultimately it came down to maintaining good communication and trusting
relationships.
"With access to the help desk and constant teamwork with my co-workers,
I was able not just to function, but to improve my job performance."
Working on a variety of KM projects, she collaborated with Bedford
and McLean, Va., staff as a full-time telecommuter for five years
before starting work at the Miami site.
Meanwhile, Rich's position in Miami allowed him to work "at the
brains and heart of Southern Command." He still holds this position
today, and he's enthusiastic about the opportunity to work so closely
with MITRE's Intelligence Directorate sponsors. "Working at a site
gives us daily exposure to the sponsor's issues. They know us on
a first-name basis, they know our capabilities, and they know that
we come through.
"At the site, there is a different momentum because of the proximity
to the sponsors' offices," Rich continues. "Our military contacts
are very practical. They tell us that they have a problem today
and we don't have much time to study it. It's exciting—the
tempo can be fast."
While the job has standing requirements that change slowly over
time, there are also ad hoc developments involving force protection,
regional engagement, and disaster relief. "There are always new
challenges. It's a very dynamic job," he says.
Over the years, he has served as the Southern Command's technical
representative at major systems development conferences and has
worked with the Command on requirements development and systems
testing and training. Undertaking a variety of projects has forced
him to keep his technical knowledge fresh.
"We spend so much time at our jobs—the work really has to
be interesting and satisfying," he says. "It's great to have the
opportunity to help make things happen."
Support through a Crisis
The Rosens enjoy the challenge of their work at MITRE, and they
are amazed at how much support they have received from MITRE over
the years. They recall how the company assisted them during a difficult
time.
Shortly before their move to the Miami site, the couple became
adoptive parents when a family member died unexpectedly, leaving
behind a daughter. "We remember how people at MITRE were there for
us during this time," Chaya says.
They took a month off from work to complete the adoption process.
"It was around this same time that I completed my master's degree,"
she recalls. "I came back to MITRE after our leave and was received
warmly by my department, and not long after that, I was promoted."
Knowing their jobs were waiting for them at the end of their bereavement
and adoption leave helped the couple weather the stress of the situation.
"For most people, their job is just a job, but MITRE is much more
than that for us," Chaya says.
—by Maria S. Lee
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