Firouz Naderi

Dr. Naderi has spent most of the last decade managing NASA programs in pursuit of a most fundamental question - are we alone in the universe? The contribution our civilization makes to answer this question, he says, will be the legacy for which we will be remembered even centuries from now after transient issues of today are long forgotten.

He was selected by NASA to lead the Mars Exploration Program after the program had suffered two successive mission failures in 1999. In the summer of 2000 he helped restructure the Program into a series of scientifically and technologically coupled missions launched to Mars every 26 months and led the Program for the subsequent five years - a period that saw successful launch of three missions to Mars including the much heralded twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. This continuing 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 was borne in Shiraz and moved to the U.S. 40 years ago. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California (USC) and has been with JPL for 29 years a career that has spanned program and project management for satellite communications systems, Earth remote sensing observatories, astrophysical observatories and planetary systems.

Dr. Naderi is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He has been honored many times and is the recipient of a number of awards including NASA’s highest awards the Distinguished Service Medal. He has also received NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal and the Technology Hall of Fame medal. Other awards include the Liberal Prize in 2004 and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2005.