Personnel Announcement - Associate Chief Technologist

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Dr. Fred Y. Hadaegh has been appointed as JPL’s Associate Chief Technologist.

Dr. Hadaegh received his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas (Austin) and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1984. He came to JPL in 1984 as a member of technical staff in the Autonomous Systems Group. Prior to his selection as Associate Chief Technologist, Dr. Hadaegh was the supervisor of the Guidance and Control Analysis Group, which is responsible for spacecraft guidance and control design for planetary and astrophysics science missions, including Mars Pathfinder, Mars Exploration Rover (MER), Cassini, and Spitzer.

Fred brings a deep understanding of research and technology development to his new role. His research areas include optimal estimation and control as applied to formation flying spacecraft with more than 200 publications on mathematical modeling of uncertain systems, parameter identifiability of dynamical systems, identification and control of large space structures, and autonomous control of distributed spacecraft systems. He previously led the design and development of autonomous rendezvous and docking, formation flying concepts, architectures, and flight software for NASA missions and DoD programs. Dr. Hadaegh was also the Cluster Flight Cadre lead for DARPA’s System F6 fractionated space architectures program.

Dr. Hadaegh is currently a Senior Research Scientist, JPL Fellow, and manager of the Laboratory’s Distributed Spacecraft Technology Program. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and AIAA and has received NASA’s Exceptional Service and Exceptional Achievement Medals, and JPL’s Award of Excellence for “Flight Validation of Autonomous Rendezvous in Earth Orbit."