JPL Director Michael Watkins Departing to Become Caltech Professor

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Director Michael Watkins is planning on leaving his position later this month and transitioning to Caltech, where he will serve as a professor of aerospace and geophysics, JPL announced Monday.

Watkins has helmed JPL for five years. His last day at the laboratory will be Aug. 20, JPL said in a written statement.

“There is no place in the world like JPL. It has truly been the great joy of my life to dedicate almost three decades to JPL, and to spend the last five years leading the Lab is the highest honor,” Watkins said in announcing the news. “I treasure above all my interactions with the incredible people who make JPL what it is and who dedicate lifetimes to mission success after mission success.”

JPL Deputy Director Larry D. James will take charge as interim director of JPL.

Accomplishments achieved under Watkin’s leadership include numerous successful space missions, ranging from Earth-orbiting scientific instruments to the Perseverance Mars Rover currently exploring the Red Planet and the Juno spacecraft currently exploring Jupiter and its moons.

“Watkins has also guided future missions in development, including the Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, the Mars Sample Return campaign, and the VERITAS mission to Venus,” according to the JPL statement.

Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum thanked Watkins for his service at JPL and welcomed him to his new role as a professor.

“Since 2015, Mike has led JPL with consummate skill and determined dedication, working closely with NASA to ensure continuation of JPL’s tradition of setting new scientific and engineering milestones and captivating the world with path breaking missions,” he said. “Mike has helped to shepherd a new age of exploration that has deepened understanding of the universe and our place within it.”

JPL is managed by Caltech for NASA.

Prior to becoming director at JPL, Watkins worked at the institution as a scientist and engineer for 22 years, representatives said.

“He has served as chief scientist for the Laboratory’s Engineering and Science Directorate, manager of JPL’s Science Division, and manager of its Navigation and Mission Design Section,” the statement said. “He was mission manager from development through landed operations for the Mars Science Laboratory mission, which sent the Curiosity rover to Mars. He also originated the concept for the GRACE and GRACE Follow-On missions, which use a pair of Earth-orbiting satellites to make detailed measurements of Earth’s gravity field.”

James first became deputy director at JPL in 2013. In addition to being interim director of JPL, he will also serve as vice president of Caltech until a permanent replacement for Watkins is announced, JPL said. A search committee has been formed.

Before joining JPL, James served for 35 years in the U.S. Air Force, where his roles included commander of the 14th Air Force at Vandenberg AFB, as well as Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance at the Pentagon.

More information on JPL can be found online at jpl.nasa.gov.