"He has remarkable people skills," says physicist Gerald Garvey, a senior scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a former associate director for research under Massey at Argonne National Laboratory. "It's quite a contrast to his predecessor at NSF. When you talk with him, you get a sense that the man is genuinely interested in your point of view. And he's very careful to make sure that all sides are being heard."
Adds Roland Schmitt, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who served with Massey in the mid-1980s on the National Science Board, which oversees NSF, "He's not quite as blunt as Erich is, but both go after what they want. He'll try to seek a consensus before he acts, but he won't be pushed around."
At the same time, some colleagues wonder if Massey's preference to work for gradual change could prove insufficient to deal with the demands on the ...
