Keyur Patel, Director for Astronomy and Physics

Keyur Patel was appointed as the Director for Astronomy and Physics in April 2021. He has been a member of the professional staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for almost 35 years and has served over 10 years in executive management at JPL. Keyur has previously served as Deputy Director for Planetary Science, Director for the Interplanetary Network Directorate, the Deputy Director for the Solar System Exploration Directorate and also served as the Deputy Director for the Office of Safety and Mission Success. He has significant project management experience as the Dawn mission Project Manager, Deputy Project Manager and Chief Engineer for the Deep Impact mission, and the Flight Engineering Office Manager for the SIRTF project (Spitzer).

Joining JPL in 1985, he spent more than 15 years in various flight systems and engineering roles working on missions including Spitzer, Mars Observer, Topex/Poseidon and Voyager. He also served 5 years as a line manager in the avionics division.

He is a graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA, with a MS Aerospace Engineering - Control Systems – March 1992 and a BS Aerospace Engineering – June 1986.