MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Contact: Diane Ainsworth
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEOctober 20, 1998
NEW APPOINTMENTS AT JPL FOR ZUREK, MCCLEESE
Dr. Richard W. Zurek has been named manager of the Earth and
Space Sciences Division in the Engineering and Science
Directorate at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He replaces Dr.
Daniel J. McCleese, who has been named chief scientist and
manager of the Office of Strategy and Science Program for JPL's
Mars Exploration Directorate.
Zurek, 51, will continue as project scientist for the Mars
'98 mission, which will launch two spacecraft, Mars Climate
Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander, in December 1998 and January 1999,
respectively. He has served as lead scientist for JPL's Earth and
Planetary Atmospheres Research Element since 1994. Zurek has
studied the upper atmosphere of Earth and the atmosphere of Mars,
using data from spacecraft including the Upper Atmosphere
Research Satellite (UARS), Mariner 9 to Mars and the Viking
orbiters and landers at Mars.
A native of Twin Falls, ID, Zurek has a bachelor's degree in
mathematics from Michigan State University and a doctorate in
atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington, Seattle.
Following post-doctoral appointments in research at the National
Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado's
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, he joined JPL in
1976. Zurek and his wife live in Tujunga, CA, with their three
sons.
McCleese, 49, is principal investigator on the Pressure
Modulator Infrared Radiometer, an instrument on Mars Climate
Orbiter due for launch in December that will study the red
planet's climate and weather. McCleese chairs the Mars
Expeditions Strategy Group, a NASA advisory panel that developed
the exploration strategy that the space agency and its
international partners are following in the search for evidence
of life on Mars. The group provides guidance to NASA and JPL on
the current series of missions to Mars, including future sample-
return missions.
Born in Chula Vista, CA, McCleese has a doctorate in
atmospheric physics from Oxford University, where he was a
Fulbright Scholar. He joined JPL in 1976 and managed JPL's
Planetary Atmospheres Section before serving as manager of the
Earth and Space Sciences Division. McCleese and his wife live in
Altadena, CA, with their son and daughter.
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10-20-98 MAH
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