Events Calendar

CEE Ph.D. Seminar

Speaker: Dr. Leon Alkalai, , Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Talk Title: “Solar Systems Exploration - Mission Formulation Systems Engineering” by Leon Alkalai, JPL

Abstract: TBA

Biography: Dr. Leon Alkalai received his MSc and PhD degrees from the UCLA Computer Science Department in 1986 and 1989 respectively and has since then been working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.
He is currently a program manager at JPL responsible for the next NASA Discovery and New Frontiers program mission portfolios as part of JPL’s Solar System Exploration Program Directorate.
For the first 14 years of his career at JPL, Leon worked on technology development of advanced micro-avionics and micro-systems technologies for deep-space exploration.
For the past 10 years, Leon has been in the forefront of mission formulation activities at JPL.
From 2005 – 2007 he was the JPL Capture Lead for the Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission proposal which won the NASA Discovery-11 competition and successfully launched in September 2011 to the Moon.
In 2012, Leon was the Capture Lead for the InSight mission to Mars, which won the NASA Discovery-12 competition and is scheduled to launch in 2016.
Last year, NASA awarded Dr. Leon Alkalai the Individual Distinguished Achievement Medal for the successful formulation of GRAIL and for winning the Discovery-11 competition.
Leon Alkalai is an active Full Member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).

Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Evangeline Reyes