Malvin L. Yeater has been named deputy assistant laboratory director for Defense and Civil Programs at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Yeater will replace Henry W. Norris, who will retire after 24 years at JPL on Aug 28.
Yeater, 55, most recently served as project manager of the All-Source Analysis System/Enemy Situation Correlation Element (ASAS/ENSCE) Project. He joined the Laboratory in 1964 as development and system engineer for the Deep Space Network. He has held variety of senior engineering and management positions at JPL including: project engineer for the Multi-Mission Telemetry System of the Deep Space Network (1967-1970); system engineer for the Mission Computing and Control Center (MCCC) (1970-1972); section manager for the MCCC Data Systems Engineering (1972-1975); deputy office manager for Tracking and Data Acquisition Engineering (1975- 1979); program manager for the Tracking and Data Acquisition Networks Consolidation Program (1979-1982); and deputy project manager of the ASAS/ENSCE Project (1982-1984).
Before joining JPL, Yeater was design engineer and technical group supervisor at the Douglas Aircraft Corp., in Santa Monica, Calif. He also served as an electronics engineer in the U.S. Navy.
In 1960, Yeater received B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, and an M.S. in electrical engineering from the California State University, Long Beach in 1968. He also received Certificate of Advanced Management from the University of Chicago and completed the Executive Program in Business Management at the University of California at Los Angeles Graduate School of Management.
Yeater is senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Assoication, and the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.
Born in Morley, Iowa, Yeater is married, has two children, and resides in Tujunga, Calif.
Henry W. Norris, 65, leaves the Laboratory after serving in several key management roles in JPL's space exploration and defense research programs.
Norris was the spacecraft system manager on the Mariner Mars 1969 spacecraft (1967-69). From 1969 to 1978, he was manager of the two Viking Orbiters that explored Mars and delivered two lander spacecraft to the Martian surface. Norris was project manager of the International Solar Polar (now Ulysses) mission from 1978 to 1981. In 1981, he became manager of JPL's Air Force Space Program, and in 1982 was named manager of the All Source Analysis/Enemy Situation Correlation Element (ASAS/ENSCE) Project. He moved to his current assignment in 1984.
Before joining JPL, Norris spent nearly 14 years with the Librascope Division of General Precision Inc., where he served as chief engineer, branch manager of the Aerospace Branch, and in other management capacities.
Norris received his B.S. in engineering from UCLA in 1949. He completed the Executive Program in Business Management at UCLA's Graduate School of Managment in 1961. He is member of the honorary engineering society Tau Beta Pi and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Norris was born in Hollywood, Calif. He is married, has three chidren and resides in Sunland, Calif. Upon retiring, the Norrises will make their home in Camarillo, Calif.
818-354-5011