Dr. Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu is a Ghanaian robotics and aerospace engineer whose work has contributed to several NASA missions exploring Mars.
He is a senior engineer and technical leader at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, operated by the California Institute of Technology in the United States. He joined JPL in 1999 and has worked on planetary rovers, robotic arms, autonomous systems and spacecraft operations.
Born in Accra, Dr. Trebi-Ollennu developed an interest in aircraft and space technology at an early age. Growing up near an airport, he was fascinated by planes and began studying how aircraft guidance and autopilot systems worked. http://Dr. Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu is a Ghanaian robotics and aerospace engineer whose work has contributed to several NASA missions exploring Mars.
He attended Garrison Primary School at Burma Camp and later completed his secondary education at Ghana Secondary Technical School in Takoradi.
He then travelled to the United Kingdom, where he obtained a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Avionics from Queen Mary College, University of London, in 1991.
In 1996, he completed a PhD in Control Systems Engineering at Cranfield University’s Royal Military College of Science. His doctoral research focused on robust nonlinear control designs using adaptive fuzzy systems.
His academic background in avionics, control systems and robotics prepared him for a career involving complex machines designed to operate in difficult and remote environments.
Work at NASA
At NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Dr. Trebi-Ollennu has worked on the design, testing and operation of robotic systems used in planetary exploration.
His projects have included the Mars Exploration Rover mission, the Phoenix Mars Lander, the Mars Science Laboratory and NASA’s InSight mission.
He served as Product Delivery Manager for the InSight Mars Mission’s Instrument Deployment System. The system was responsible for placing scientific instruments on the Martian surface.
The InSight lander reached Mars in November 2018. Its mission was to study the planet’s interior, including its internal structure, geological development and seismic activity.
Dr. Trebi-Ollennu’s work involved robotic manipulation, system integration, testing, mission operations and the development of technologies that allow machines to perform tasks on another planet.
NASA has also identified him as a technical group leader in the field of robotic manipulation and sampling. His research interests include planetary rovers, multiple mobile robots, reconfigurable robots, autonomous systems and human-machine interaction.
His research has resulted in more than 95 publications, according to his official NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory profile.
Awards and Recognition
Dr. Trebi-Ollennu has received several professional and engineering awards.
Among them are the 2008 NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal for his contributions to the Mars Exploration Rover mission, the 2007 Outstanding Engineer Award from IEEE Region 6 and the 2007 Sir Monty Finniston Achievement Medal from the Institution of Engineering and Technology in the United Kingdom.
He also received a 2010 Specialist Silver Award from the Royal Aeronautical Society and the 21st Century Trailblazer Award in Systems Engineering from the United States National Society of Black Engineers.
He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Supporting STEM Education in Ghana
Beyond his NASA career, Dr. Trebi-Ollennu has worked to encourage young people in Ghana to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
He founded the Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation, an organisation focused on making robotics and STEM education more accessible and enjoyable for Ghanaian students.
The foundation won the Google RISE Award in 2013. He has also supported robotics education workshops and programmes aimed at introducing Ghanaian students to engineering, programming and practical problem-solving.
– Charles Wundengba
