2005 Press Releases
Director of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to lecture at UCC, 8 September
Dr Charles Elachi, Director of JPL will deliver a lecture at UCC on
Thursday, 8 September. Dr Elachi will address a plenary session
of the 40th International Universities Power Engineering Conference
taking place at UCC from 7-9 September. The title of his
presentation is "Space Exploration in the Next Decade". Professor Peter
Kennedy, Vice-President for Research Policy & Support at UCC will
chair the session.
Dr Charles Elachi was born April 18, 1947 in Lebanon. He received a BS
in physics from the University of Grenoble, France and the Diplome
Ingenieur in engineering from the Polytechnic Institute, Grenoble in
1968 where he graduated first in the class, and MS and PhD degrees in
electrical sciences from the California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena in 1969 and 1971, respectively. He later received an MBA from
USC (1978) and an MS degree in geology from UCLA (1983).
He is currently the Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Vice
President of the California Institute of Technology, where he is also a
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Planetary Science. He taught
"The Physics of Remote Sensing" at Caltech from 1982 to 2000. Elachi
was Principal Investigator on numerous research and development studies
and flight projects sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. He was Principal Investigator for the Shuttle Imaging
Radar series (SIR-A in 1981, SIR-B in 1984 and SIR-C in 1994), was a
Co-Investigator on the Magellan imaging radar, and is presently the
Team Leader of the Cassini Titan Radar experiment and a co-investigator
on the Rosetta Comet Nucleus Sounder Experiment. He is the author of
over 230 publications in the fields of space and planetary exploration,
Earth observation from space, active microwave remote sensing,
electromagnetic theory, and integrated optics, and he holds several
patents in those fields. In addition, he has authored three textbooks
in the field of remote sensing. One of these textbooks has been
translated into Chinese.
In his 30 year career at JPL, Dr Elachi played the lead role in
developing the field of spaceborne imaging radar from a small research
area to a major field of scientific research and application. As a
result, JPL and NASA became the world leaders in the field of
spaceborne imaging radars, and over the last decade, developed Seasat,
SIR-A, SIR-B, SIR-C, Magellan, SRTM and the Cassini Radar. He received
numerous national and international awards for his leadership in this
field.
During the late 80's and 90's, as the Director of Space and Earth
Science programs, Dr Elachi was responsible for the definition and
development of JPL flight instruments and missions for Solar System
Exploration, the Origins program, Earth Observation and Astrophysics.
During this period more than 45 flight missions and instruments were
conceived, developed, and flown.
In the mid to late 90s Dr Elachi chaired a number of national and
international committees which developed NASA roadmaps for the
exploration of neighboring Solar Systems (1995), our Solar System
(1997), and Mars (1998).
In January 2001, Dr Elachi was appointed as the Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Vice President of Caltech.
Dr Elachi has received numerous awards, including the Takeda Award
(2002), the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (2002), the Wernher Von
Braun Award (2002), the UCLA Department of Earth and Space Science
Distinguished Alumni Award (2002), Dryden Award (2000,), the NASA
Distinguished Service Medal (1999), the COSPAR Nordberg Medal (1996),
the Nevada Medal (1995), NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (1994), the
IEEE Medal of Engineering Excellence (1992), the IEEE Geoscience and
Remote Sensing Distin- guished Achievement Award (1987), the WT Pecora
Award (1985), the NASA Exceptional Scientific Medal (1982), and the ASP
Autometric Award (1980 and 1982).
In 1988, the LA Times selected him as one of "Southern California's rising stars who will make a difference in LA"
In 1989, Asteroid 1982 SU was renamed 4116 Elachi in recognition of his contribution to planetary exploration.
In 1989, at the age of 42, he was elected to the National Academy of
Engineering. In 1993-1995 he was a member of the NAE 4th Decadal
Committee. In 1995, he chaired the NAE membership committee. He served
on numerous NAE committees.
He is a fellow of IEEE and the American Institute of Aeronautics and
Astronautics, and is a member of the International Academy of
Astronautics.
He was a member of the University of Arizona Engineering School
Advisory Committee and the Boston University Center of Remote Sensing
Advisory Council. He is a member of the UCLA Science Board of Visitors.
Dr Elachi participated in a number of archeological expeditions in the
Egyptian Desert, the Arabian Peninsula and Western Chinese Desert in
search of old trading routes and buried cities using satellite data,
some of which were featured in National Geographic Magazine.
He has lectured and given keynote speeches at numerous international
conferences and universities inside and outside the US, including
China, Japan, Australia, France, England, Holland, Denmark, Austria,
Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Kenya, India,
Morocco, and Brazil. He also was a speaker at the Caltech Alumni Day
and the Watson Lectures.
The lecture takes place on Thursday, 8 September, 10.00 am, Boole IV
Lecture Theatre, UCC. A limited number of tickets are available
on request from Dr Michael Egan, Tel. 021 4902661; email m.egan@ucc.ie
MMcS109
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