Dr. Jay Gao joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2001 and is currently a senior member of the Telecommunication Research and Architecture Section. At JPL, Dr. Gao’s provides technical leadership and contributions to R&D, flight projects, technology programs, and study teams both inside and outside NASA. Dr. Gao assists program and technical management in decision-making and directing various R&D tasks and customer interactions. Dr. Gao also supports the identification and generation of new technology concept/proposal of high potential benefit and value to the customers.Dr. Gao’s research activity is focused development and optimization of adaptive data rate and modulation techniques for Deep Space Ka-band and optical communications links supporting space/planetary exploration. Dr. Gao is a major contributor and editor of the Mars Relay Network Handbook and from 2009 to 2013, the Principle Investigator of the CoNNeCT DTN Experiment that demonstrates store-and-forward networking on International Space Station (ISS). Other research interests includes Cubesat/Smallsat swarm mission concept development, energy efficient routing, and self-organizing network for cooperative signal processing. Dr. Jay L. Gao received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from University of California, Los Angeles in 1993, 1995, and 2000, respectively.Specialties: System Engineering for end-to-end network for space and ground network. Network architecture development for relay and multi-hop space missions. Optimization of deep space and short-range (Proximity) RF/optical links. Analysis and modeling of space network capacity, latency, and efficiency. Medium access control (MAC) protocol design and analysis. Energy efficient routing for sensor network. Queuing system modeling and stochastic optimization.