Charles ElachiDr. Charles Elachi is Professor (Emeritus) of Electrical Engineering and Planetary Science at the California Institute of Technology. From 2001 to 2016 he was the Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Vice President of California Institute ofTechnology. During his tenure, he oversaw the development and operations of over 45 flight missions and instruments, and was principal investigator on a number of NASA-sponsored studies and projects including the Shuttle Imaging Radar series the Magellan Imaging Radar, the Cassini Titan Radar and the Europa Sounding Radar. He was the Team Leader for the Titan Imaging Radar on the Cassini mission and has been honored with numerous awards, including the von Karman award from the International Academy of Astronautics and three NASA Outstanding Leadership Medals. In 1989, Asteroid 1982 SU was renamed 4116 Elachi in recognition of his contribution to planetary exploration and, in 2016 the JPL/NASA Mission Control Center was renamed "The Charles Elachi Mission Control Center". He has authored over 230 publications and holds several patents in his fields. Read More Read Less