Blaine Baggett is executive manager of JPL's Office of Communication and Education. In this capacity he oversees the laboratory's multiple communications activities in media relations, informal and formal education, television, Internet, internal communications and public outreach services.
Before joining JPL in 1999, Baggett was vice president of program development, scheduling and acquisitions for public television station KCET in Los Angeles, where he was responsible for the station's national programs produced for PBS as well as overseeing the station's local schedule. His television productions have been recognized by virtually every major national and international awards competition, including local and national Emmys, two Peabodys, the DuPont Columbia Journalism Award, the New York International Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival, the Writer's Guild of America Award, the Director's Guild of America Award, and the Producer's Guild of America Award. Baggett is a published author, having co-written The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century (BBC/Penguin) and Secret Intelligence (Doubleday). He was also one of NASA's 40 national finalists for the first journalist in space competition, a competition put on indefinite hold following the loss of the space shuttle Challenger.
A native of Mississippi, he graduated with academic honors from Millsaps College in Jackson. Following graduation, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia, West Africa. He began his communications career at Mississippi Educational Television and later served as creative director of advertising and video promotion for the PBS network in Washington, D.C. He, his wife and two sons live in Glendale, California.
Aerial View of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
