NASA Fires UCI Researcher; Blames Performance, Funding

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has canceled a $2-million research contract with noted UC Irvine researcher Jerrold Petrofsky because of allegedly poor performance and budget cuts.

The study, which was supposed to analyze the effects of weightlessness on human muscles, was scheduled to take four years but was terminated Jan. 29, less than a year after it began.

Petrofsky, 39, could not be reached Thursday for comment.

Terry White, a spokesman for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, said NASA “was not getting its money’s worth” from the project, and, because of a tight budget, felt the money “was better spent someplace else.”

In December, Congress cut $342 million from NASA’s $762-million space-station budget for 1988.

White said that in addition to budget constraints, the notice of termination stated that the project was behind schedule and required too many NASA employees to monitor it properly.

The notice stated that “progress reporting had been completely inadequate, despite multiple requests and recommendations for improvement.”

“He wasn’t meeting the requirements of the contract,” White said. “It finally got to the point of diminishing returns.” As of Jan. 29, NASA had spent $91,731 on the project, which began in April of 1987, White added.

He insisted, however, that the canceled contract should in no way reflect negatively on UCI.

UCI officials said they were unaware of NASA’s complaints with the project, and that none of the other lesser contracts UCI has with NASA has been affected.

“We never received in writing that the contract would be canceled due to lack of performance,” said Walt Selufsky, manager of contracts and grants at UCI. “If we had been informed, we could have rectified our problems.”

Selufsky said “convenience of the government,” or budget cuts, were the only reasons given for the cancellation. He said UCI has eight to 10 other, lesser contracts with NASA not related to the space shuttle.

Linda Granell, a UCI spokeswoman, agreed with Selufsky.

“Their (government) funding priorities were changing. That was at least one reason why funding was cut,” she said.

However, Granell said she understood in having talked with people involved with the project that there had been some problems. “It pretty much had to do with delays in getting started. That’s the only thing I heard.”

Petrofsky has a one-year contract as a professor in residence that runs through June, Granell said. His base salary with the school is $62,900 per year, but coupled with money provided by the NASA grant, it totals $86,760, she added.

Granell said salary contracts for all UCI faculty are renegotiated in March, at which time it will be up to the psychiatry department, Petrofsky’s employer, on whether to renew his contract.

“It’s up to the department to decide if they can continue his salary at the (total) level,” she said.

A project manager, two engineers and a secretary, all of whom were employed under the grant, will be terminated from their jobs at NASA’s El Toro lab, where the study was being conducted. NASA is expected to cancel its 30% share of Petrofsky’s salary.

Formerly of Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, Petrofsky drew national attention in 1982 for developing an electronic stimulation system that helped paraplegics to walk. The computerized system sent electronic currents to paralyzed muscles, which would then contract. His achievements were later documented on “60 Minutes” and a made-for-TV movie, “First Steps.”

Petrofsky served as the director of the National Center for Rehabilitation Engineering at Wright State until 1986, when, after a falling out with school officials, he moved to El Toro.

After serving a short time as a volunteer at the UCI College of Medicine, Petrofsky was awarded NASA’s $2-million research grant.

Petrofsky is also employed as a part-time researcher at the Long Beach Veterans Administration Medical Center.