Kent Kellogg:
CLASS OF 1979
South High SchoolClass of 1979
Bakersfield, CA
California Polytechnic State UniversityClass of 1983
San luis obispo, CA
Greenfield Junior High SchoolClass of 1975
Bakersfield, CA
McKee Primary SchoolClass of 1973
Bakersfield, CA
Kent's Story
Life
Married Lisa (SHS class of '80) after finishing Cal Poly (1983). Have 2 boys. We live near Pasadena, CA.
March 2011 Update: No. 1 son is now a sophomore at UC Riverside majoring in computer science & software engineering. He was able to work last summer at JPL putting some of his software stuff to work. No. 2 son is a junior in high school and wants to go into something connected with movie making & Hollywood. Starting to check out colleges for No. 2 - USC School of Cinematic Arts, NYU/Tish, CSLB & Chapman over the next few weeks.
High School
I frankly don't remember much about high school at this point. Was never much into sports or clubs. Took Russian (Mr. Sharp) for two or three years. Took Auto Shop with Mr. Raper (before the days of computer controlled cars).
College
I attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (CA) where I majored in Electronic Engineering. Graduated in 1983. Pursued a graduate degree at Cal State Northridge while working.
Workplace
After colllege I went to work at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL). I've worked on many JPL planetary and Earth missions including Galileo, Cassini, Mars Pathfinder, the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and others. I'm currently managing JPL's Communications Division that provides engineering for NASA's Deep Space Network, spacecraft communication systems, radio and radar science instruments.
March '11 Update: OK - the above is now a bit out of date! After five years of running the Division, a couple years ago I decided to make a change and manage a flight project. Since 2009 I've been project manager for the SMAP mission - it's an Earth orbiter what will measure soil moisture and its freeze-thaw state - data that will help improve understanding and prediction of near term weather and longer term climate changes. Search for SMAP on the web to learn more about the mission. The mission is currently in development and is expected to launch in late 2014 or early 2015.
Feb '15 Update: Completed development of SMAP observatory and launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base about 3 weeks ago (January 29, 2015). If you do a web search for "SMAP" you can find out more info on the mission (and/or a Japanese boy band wit...Expand for more
h the same acronym!). This coming week we will deploy our large (20 ft) instrument reflector in space - a huge milestone - then check out the instrument/reflector system in preparation for spin up in late March. It'll take a year after that to fully calibrate the measurements against ground sensor worldwide.
No. 1 son graduated from UCR with a software engineering degree a year ago (yeah!) and and is working full time (yeah!), but still living at home (ugh!). No. 2 son is a different story, has quit school and focusing on exercising (ugh! on all counts). Longing for empty nest... oh well... Last year Lisa & I celebrated our 30th anniversary on the Big Island (Hawaii) - wonderful trip. Hoping to do more trips now that work is quieting down (I hope).
May 2026 Update - Can't believe its been more than 10 years since my last update! Time flies?! Our two boys are now living on their own (yeay!) - in CO and TX and both are doing very well - we're very proud of the adults they have become. After more than 42 years at JPL I retired in late 2025. It was a great ride and enjoyed (almost!) every moment of it - such a privilege and honor to work with so many amazing folks, an incredible organization and to be part of some awesome space missions. Over past few years health issues came home to roost - so the past couple years I've been working to get what I can resolved. Much good progress - lost weight (again!), got a new hip and heart repairs last year, had eye surgery a month ago that's still sorting itself. Almost all of the big ticket health repairs are behind me now. Able to travel once again - visited #2 son in TX last Nov and planning a visit with #1 son in CO next month. After that - thinking about doing some more significant 'bucket list' travel. We felt this first year would be transitional with so many changes hitting at once, so we planned limited travel initially with much more to follow. We're getting involved with community volunteer groups - experimenting with what's interesting, useful and with people we can connect with. I've not been retired very long - but so far I'm loving it and seem to be as busy as when I was working (as many retirees have warned us over the years).
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