During his more than four decades at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) of Caltech, Dr. Elachi led a team that pioneered the use of space-based radar imaging of the Earth and the planets, served as principal investigator on a number of NASA-sponsored studies and flight projects, authored more than 230 publications in the fields of active microwave remote sensing and electromagnetic theory, received several patents, and became the director for space and earth science missions and instruments. In that role, he was responsible for the development of numerous Earth Science missions and instruments for Earth observation. He was the director of JPL from 2001 to 2016 and during his tenure oversaw the development and operation of over 45 flight missions and space science instruments. He is currently a Professor (Emeritus) of Electrical Engineering and Planetary Science at the California Institute of Technology and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He received a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Grenoble in France, and a doctorate in electrical sciences from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Dr. Elachi received a Doctorate of Humane Letters from AUB in 2013.