Former head of JPL joins ASU as University Professor for Space Futures
Former director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Tempe native and ASU alum Laurie Leshin (pictured on Jan. 7) has returned as University Professor for Space Futures. Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University
Laurie Leshin, once a young Tempe girl enamored with space who went on to become a world-class space scientist, is back home. She joined Arizona State University on Jan. 1 as the University Professor for Space Futures.
Leshin was director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 2022 until May 2025, and she was the Bren Professor of Geochemistry and Planetary Science at Caltech through December 2025.
At JPL, she oversaw the successful development and launch of major NASA missions in earth science, planetary exploration and astrophysics.
Leshin now will advise ASU leadership including President Michael Crow, University Provost Nancy Gonzales and Executive Vice President Sally Morton on space, research and higher education. She will work closely with ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, the University Design Institute, the Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes and others.
“The state of Arizona has so much history and capability in space exploration, and we aren’t loud enough about it,” Leshin said.
“From all we’re doing at ASU to our colleagues at UA and NAU, and the Kitt Peak and Lowell observatories and Meteor Crater, we have so much to build upon. We should be working every day to position all our capabilities for the future.”
It’s an exciting opportunity for the state and the country, she said, especially because of rapid change in the space industry.
“Arizona must do all it can to capitalize on this moment with increasing commercial and private investment and activity in space,” she said. “There are unique opportunities for innovation that I know we can take advantage of.”
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Laurie Leshin, then director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, flashes the pitchfork in front of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida during the October 2023 launch week for Psyche, the first ASU-led deep-space NASA mission. The ASU alum is returning to the university after decades working as a world-class space scientist.
Photo by Deanna Dent/ASU
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Leshin (pictured with her mom at graduation in May 1987) earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from ASU. She then earned a master’s degree in geochemistry and a doctorate in philosophy, both from Caltech.
Photo courtesy of Laurie Leshin
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While working at ASU as a young professor, Leshin (in blue, at a campus event) first met Sally Ride (left), the first American woman in space. Leshin, who would one day become the first woman to serve as director of JPL, said they became close colleagues.
Photo courtesy of Laurie Leshin
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Leshin works in her ASU lab circa 2000. She would go on to distinguished work at JPL, Goddard Space Flight Center, Caltech and elsewhere, now returning to ASU as University Professor for Space Futures. “It feels like coming home — I can’t stop smiling,” she said. “I’m so proud to be a Sun Devil and will do my absolute best to contribute to ASU’s rising trajectory.”
Photo courtesy of Laurie Leshin
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Leshin received distinguished alumni awards from both of her alma maters, ASU and Caltech. She earned the 2023 Alumni Achievement Award from ASU, shown here with President Michael Crow.
Photo courtesy of Laurie Leshin
ASU has more than 25 active space missions. The university’s School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) was truly groundbreaking when launched nearly 20 years ago, setting a standard, both at ASU and beyond, for breaking down barriers between disciplines.
“SESE continues to perform at a very high level, including involvement in many cutting-edge space missions, and large online degree programs that bring space to thousands of learners everywhere,” Leshin said. “I know we can build upon that success while looking to a future where more people, more companies and more countries will be space explorers.
“How can ASU accelerate the coming space transformation? That’s the question I want to see us go after with our usual creativity and energy.”
Crow said the addition of Leshin will help the university and the state think about space in entirely new ways.
“It is tremendous to have Laurie Leshin back home at ASU as the University Professor for Space Futures,” Crow said. “She is a global leader in guiding us all to our full exploration and settlement of space and will help us all to find the best trails on that pathway ahead.”
'Feels like a homecoming'
Leshin graduated from Corona del Sol High School in Tempe and earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from ASU in 1987. She earned a master’s degree in geochemistry and a doctorate in philosophy, both from Caltech.
“Returning to ASU truly feels like a homecoming,” she said. “I grew up on campus, started working here at 16, earned my BS degree, discovered my love for planetary geochemistry, and spent seven years as a young professor here.
“It feels like coming home — I can’t stop smiling. I’m so proud to be a Sun Devil and will do my absolute best to contribute to ASU’s rising trajectory.”
Leshin returns to an ASU “that has dramatically evolved” yet remains a place where excellence and opportunity go hand in hand — and where everyone can engage, learn and succeed.
“We were watching, and we always have been proud of Laurie’s accomplishments since she left to pursue national leadership roles at NASA,” Gonzales said. “We are thrilled to have her back now to help us advance ASU and the nation in space and research policy, leadership and impact. Her return comes at a pivotal time when all things about space are shifting and evolving rapidly.”
The state of Arizona has so much history and capability in space exploration, and we aren’t loud enough about it. ... We should be working every day to position all our capabilities for the future.
Laurie LeshinFormer JPL director and new ASU University Professor of Space Futures
Leshin will lean on her decades of experience. At JPL, Leshin oversaw major NASA missions across earth science, planetary exploration and astrophysics. As president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute from 2014 to 2022, she elevated WPI’s project-based approach to STEM education and research, and she grew the enrollment and endowment to record levels. Leshin previously served as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Science dean from 2011 to 2014.
And at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center from 2005 to 2010, she served as director of science, then deputy director for science and technology, leading strategy, planning and implementation of more than 50 earth and space flight projects. In 2010, Leshin became deputy associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters, overseeing future human spaceflight.
Leshin also:
- Serves as the chair of FIRST, the largest robotics competition organization in the world.
- Received NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal and Distinguished Public Service Medal, and the Meteoritical Society’s Nier Prize for outstanding research by a scientist under the age of 35.
- Received distinguished alumni awards from both of her alma maters, ASU and Caltech. She earned the 2023 Alumni Achievement Award from ASU.
- Had asteroid 4922 named after her by the International Astronomical Union to honor her planetary science contributions.
- Advised President George W. Bush on space policy and was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum advisory board.
Leshin was the first woman to serve as JPL director, a role that also included serving as vice president at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA. She was also the first female president of WPI in the university’s history.
She said she is grateful for the journey that brought her back to Tempe. And yes, she still remembers well that 10-year-old girl standing in the kitchen of her Tempe home, seeing in a magazine the first images from the surface of Mars that were sent back to Earth from NASA’s Viking Landers.
“I think there was something Arizona-like in that red Martian landscape that spoke to me,” she said. “I remember I wanted to reach out and touch those rocks — and I still do.”
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