ASU Grad Who Joined Faculty Chosen To Lead NASA Lab

WASHINGTON, DC —Dr. Laurie Leshin, an Arizona State alumna and former faculty member was named Thursday as the director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.

Currently the president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Leshin will formally assume her new role on May 16, NASA announced.

Leshin graduated summa cum laude with an undergraduate degree in chemistry from ASU in 1987.

After earning her master's degree and PhD in geochemistry from the California Institute of Technology, Leshin returned to ASU in 1998 to become the director of the ASU Center for Meteorite Studies, which houses one of the largest university-based meteorite collections in the world.

At ASU, Leshin also helped develop the new School of Earth and Space Exploration and she established and led the Keck Laboratory for Environmental Biochemistry.

In 2004, Leshin served on President George W. Bush's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, a nine-member commission charged with advising the president on the execution of his new Vision for Space Exploration

"Laurie is a great intellectual leader and will reshape JPL into the place, with its academic and industrial partners, that will open new horizons for our species throughout the solar system, and new knowledge and insights throughout the universe," said ASU President Michael Crow. "This is a tremendous appointment."

Leshin left ASU in 2005, becoming the director of Sciences and Exploration Directorate at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, where she oversaw science activities. From 2008-9, she was the deputy center director for science and technology at Goddard.

In 2014, Leshin became the first female president in Worcester Polytechnic Institute's 150-year history.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said he believes Leshin is the perfect choice to lead NASA's JPL.

"NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a storied history of defying what was once thought impossible in the field of space exploration," Nelson said. "In this new era of groundbreaking discoveries and constant innovation, it is clear that Dr. Laurie Leshin has a track record of scholarship and leadership needed to serve as director of JPL and cement the center's status as a global leader in the 21st century."