Albert G. Brejcha and Thomas R. Gavin have been appointed to key posts in reliability and quality assurance at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory by William S. Shipley, assistant laboratory director for engineering and review.
Gavin, Pennsylvanian with degree in chemistry from Villanova University, is the new manager of the Quality Assurance and Electronic Parts Division. Most recently he served as reliability and quality assurance manager for Project Galileo, due for launch later this year for an extended examination of the planet Jupiter. Gavin previously held similar post with the Voyager project, which has been exploring the outer planets for ten years. He will continue to support Galileo as an additional responsibility.
Brejcha, native of Chicago with degrees from the University of Illinois in electrical engineering and from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona in management, will manage the Reliability and Safety Division. He developed and designed spacecraft communications hardware and was responsible for spacecraft antenna systems for various Mariner projects and for Viking, Seasat, Voyager, and Galileo, and managed product assurance and program engineering staffs.
Shipley, himself spacecraft project veteran, stressed the importance of experience in space projects and working with industrial contractors in the newly appointed reliability and quality assurance managers. "They understand the issues involved in making our hardware work," he says.
Brejcha lives in Glendora, California with his wife and two daughters; Gavin resides in Canyon Country with his wife and four children.
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