As Air Force and Daytonarea leaders prepare for the anticipated impact of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) activity at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the outgoing director of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Human Effectiveness Directorate (AFRL/RH) is optimistic about the impending changes.
Dr. Hendrick W. "Henk" Ruck, a research psychologist known for his scientific contributions to industrial and organizational psychology, has held several positions within AFRL since its inception in 1997 (when multiple Air Force labs combined to create "one AFRL") and has been RH director since 2003. He's seen many changes during the past decade that support his optimism.
"AFRL is finally a single lab," Dr. Ruck said, noting that it took 10 years to get from vision to reality. "Even though we got all the finances right, the personnel, the organizational plans and all, it's taken that long for the laboratory to be as close to a single laboratory as we'll ever get.
"That's exciting; it was the vision and it's exciting to see it happen."
Although Air Force leaders at the Pentagon have not formally approved the plan to merge RH with Air Force aerospace medical functions moving to Wright-Patterson from Brooks City-Base under the proposed 711th Human Performance Wing, Dr. Ruck sees AFRL's current relationship with Air Force leaders as strong and positive.
"Through the leadership of AFRL commanders, we now have a very strong relationship with the Secretary of the Air Force, Michael W. Wynne, and the Chief of Staff, General T. Michael Moseley, something that wasn't there 10 years ago," Dr. Ruck said. "The Secretary and the Chief now count on AFRL to develop technology solutions and to lead the scientific technology of the future, and that was one of our goals in 1997."
