Dr. Naderi is an Iranian scientist and the associate director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory responsible for project formulation and strategy. He was the head of Mars Exploration Program, having been named to that position in 2000 after the program had suffered two consecutive failures. He helped replan the program as a chain of scientifically, technologically and operationally interrelated missions with a spacecraft launch to Mars every two years. Naderi led the program for the next five years, a span of time that included the successful launch of Mars Odyssey, landing of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, and the development of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.