Ronald A. Ploszaj has been named deputy assistant laboratory director for the Office of Technical Divisions at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Ploszaj, whose position became effective April 5, succeeds Dr. James King Jr., who was recently named assistant laboratory director for the Office of Technical Divisions.
Ploszaj joined JPL in 1967 as a spacecraft systems engineer. He has served as a line supervisor and manager and has held key project managerial positions in the Flight Projects Office and the Technology and Applications Program Office.
He has served as manager of the Mechanical and Systems Engineering and Research Division since 1987.
Prior to joining JPL, Ploszaj was an electronics engineer at the U.S. Naval Avionics Facility in Indianapolis.
Born in Chicago on April 17, 1939, Ploszaj earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Valparaiso University, Indiana in 1961 and a master's degree in the same discipline from Purdue University in 1965.
He is the recipient of the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and numerous group and project achievement awards.
Ploszaj is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
He and his wife, Joanne, live in La Crescenta, Calif. They have two adult children.
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