Dr. Naderi is the associate director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory responsible for project formulation and strategy.
Before his current assignment he was the head of Mars Exploration Program, having been named to that position in 2000 after the program had suffered two consecutive failures. He helped replan the program as a chain of scientifically, technologically and operationally interrelated missions with a spacecraft launch to Mars every two years. Naderi led the program for the next five years, a span of time that included the successful launch of Mars Odyssey, landing of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, and the development of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Before Mars, he managed the Origins Program, NASA's ambitious, technology-rich plan to search for Earth-like planets in other planetary systems.
Naderi received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in electrical engineering (writing his dissertation in the area of digital image processing) and joined JPL in 1979. His career at JPL has spanned system engineering, technology development, and program and project management for satellite communications systems, Earth remote sensing observatories, astrophysical observatories and planetary systems.
Naderi is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the recipient of a number of awards, including NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal, Space Technology Hall of Fame Medal and NASA's highest award-the Distinguished Service Medal. He is also a 2005 recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for outstanding contributions that have enriched American society and exemplify its cultural diversity.
Aerial View of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
