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WORLDCOMP'10 Featured Keynote Lecture - Dr. Firouz Naderi
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Search for Life in the Universe
Dr. Firouz Naderi Associate Director, Project Formulation and Strategy, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CalTech/NASA; Head, NASA Mars Exploration Program (2000-2005); Fellow, AIAA; Recipient of NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal & Space Technology Hall of Fame Medal & NASA's highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/about/bio_naderi.cfm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firouz_Naderi Date: July 12, 2010 Time: TBA Location: Lance Burton Theater |
Are We Alone in the Universe? "The Search for Our Galactic Cousins"
Have you stared up at the stars in a dark night and wondered if anyone out there was staring back at you?
Dr. Firouz Naderi will talk about NASA’s search for life beyond the confines of Earth and the advances in robotics and astrophysics that suggest we might not be alone
after all.
Dr. Naderi is the Associate Director of NASA’s JPL responsible for project formulation and strategy. He has spent most of the last decade managing programs in pursuit of a most fundamental question – are we alone in the universe?
He led the Mars Exploration Program at JPL for five years – a period that saw successful launch of three missions to Mars including the much heralded twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. This program has the goal of determining if Mars is, or if it ever was, a habitat for life.
Prior to becoming the head of the Mars program he spent four years as the program manager of the Origins Program—NASA’s ambitious plan to search for other Earths around other Suns.
Dr. Naderi who was borne in Shiraz Iran, received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California (USC) and has been with JPL for 30 years a career which spans program and project management for satellite communications systems, Earth remote sensing observatories, astrophysical observatories and planetary systems.
He is the recipient of a number of awards including NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal, the Technology Hall of Fame medal and, NASA’s highest award the Distinguished Service Medal. Other awards include the Liberal Prize in 2004 and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and in 2005.
Dr. Naderi is Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
