MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
Contact: Gia Scafidi (818) 354-0850
Dr. Parvin Kassaie, former director of the Center for
Experiential Education and Service Learning at the University of
California, Los Angeles, has been named manager of the
Educational Affairs Office at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
As manager, Kassaie’s responsibilities will span a wide
range of JPL’s educational activities designed to increase
students’ interest in math and science. She will oversee JPL’s
Educator Resource Center, the Learning Technologies program,
programs for kindergarten-through-college students and minority
science and engineering initiatives.
“I’m very excited to join JPL,” said Kassaie. “There are
great resources here, in terms of knowledge and people, and JPL
has a great foundation of activities and efforts reaching out to
the educational community.” Kassaie said she looks forward to
applying JPL’s resources to reach NASA’s goal of achieving
excellence in education.
Kassaie hopes to establish more of an interaction between
JPL and educational programs in the social sciences and
humanities to encourage interdisciplinary education.
At UCLA, she collaborated with faculty members and
departments across campus to develop curricula that would bring
college students out into the community and promote hands-on
learning. She has also served as an adviser to state legislators
working on educational reform issues.
Kassaie received her bachelor’s degree in urban studies from
California State University, Northridge, and her master’s and
doctorate degrees in sociology from the University of Southern
California.
JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology
in Pasadena.
