Desert Bus for Hope is excited to welcome Bobak Ferdowsi, Systems Engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He will be calling in today, Monday, November 18 at 5pm PST.

Bobak Ferdowsi was born in Philadelphia and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. When he was eleven he moved to Tokyo with his parents and attended the American School in Japan. After his graduation in 1997 he attended the University of Washington where he majored in his childhood dream of aerospace engineering.

In 2001 Bobak enrolled at MIT and later joined the Lean Aerospace Initiative. In late 2003, Bobak joined the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and began work on the Mars Science Laboratory and Cassini-Huygens missions, the latter of which he acted as Science Planner.

Despite his impressive body of work it was his hairstyle that won him mainstream attention. During the landing of the Curiosity on Mars Bobak was seated prominently in frame and the media took notice of his unique Mohawk haircut. Bobak soon became a symbol of the landing. His hair even received a nod from President Barack Obama, who said, “”it does seem NASA has come a long way from the white shirts, dark-rimmed glasses, and pocket protectors. You guys are a little cooler than you used to be.” Bobak has used his newfound meme status to aid campaign for a greater number of visas for skilled immigrants in the fields of math, science, and engineering.

If you have questions for Bobak, please put them in the comments below.