Two senior managers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have been elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering, it has been announced.
Dr. Charles Elachi, assistant laboratory director for JPL's Office of Space Science and Instruments, and John R. Casani, deputy assistant laboratory director for the Office of Flight Projects, were among 97 U.S. and foreign citizens elected to the academy this week.
The academy, established in 1964, shares responsibilities with the National Academy of Sciences under Congressional charter granted in 1863 to advise the federal government on questions of science and technology.
Academy activities include recognition of distinguished engineers, sponsorship of engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, and encouragement of education and research. Its membership now totals 1,484 in the United States and 122 foreign associates.
Casani and Elachi will be inducted into the academy during its annual meeting next October in Washington, D.C.
A native of Philadelphia, Casani was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in electrical engineering and has been with JPL since 1956. Before his appointment to his current post, he served as project manager for the Galileo and Voyager missions and in various other management and technical capacities. His previous honors include NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal and Exceptional Service Medal.
Elachi was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and took bachelor's degree in physics and engineering at the University of Grenoble and the Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, France. He also holds master's degree and doctorate in electrical sciences from Caltech, master's degree in geology from UCLA and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California. Joining JPL in 1970, Elachi has served as principal investigator for NASA's Shuttle Imaging Radar series and is member of the Magellan Venus radar mapping mission's science team. His awards include NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal.
Casani lives in Pasadena, while Elachi is resident of Altadena.
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