PASADENA, Calif. (Diya TV) — NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has parted ways with Neela Rajendra, its top diversity officer, following recent restructuring efforts and scrutiny over the lab’s handling of layoffs tied to budget cuts.
The departure comes just a week after a report from the Washington Free Beacon revealed that Rajendra had not been among the 900 employees laid off by the lab earlier this year. In response to widespread financial constraints, NASA’s JPL eliminated nearly 10% of its workforce in 2024. Despite the cuts, Rajendra’s position had reportedly been preserved through a title change, shifting her role from leading the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) office to heading up a newly named “Office of Employee Success.”
Lab director Laurie Leshin confirmed Rajendra’s exit in an all-staff email on Thursday.
“Neela Rajendra is no longer working at [the Jet Propulsion Laboratory],” Leshin wrote. “We are incredibly grateful for the lasting impact she made on our organization. We wish her the very best.”
Leshin also announced that the newly established “Office of Team Excellence and Employee Success,” which replaced the DEI division Rajendra once led, would now operate under the Office of Human Resources. According to a March 10 internal email obtained by the Free Beacon, the restructured office will continue overseeing programs like employee “affinity groups,” including the Black Excellence Strategic Team (B.E.S.T.).
Rajendra had drawn criticism in the past for her views on workplace productivity, once arguing that rigid deadlines could “undermine inclusion.” In a 2022 presentation, she also pointed to SpaceX’s fast-paced work culture as a barrier to promoting DEI, linking it to a high employee attrition rate.
Ironically, just three years later, a SpaceX capsule was responsible for rescuing a pair of NASA astronauts who had been stranded on the International Space Station for nine months due to a malfunction in NASA’s propulsion system. The incident reignited debate about whether the agency’s multimillion-dollar investment in DEI initiatives had led to measurable improvements in operational safety or workforce performance.
The Free Beacon noted that while NASA eliminated its central DEI office in response to Trump-era executive orders, JPL retained Rajendra by reassigning her role and removing “diversity” and “inclusion” from her title, while largely preserving her responsibilities.
Neither NASA nor the Jet Propulsion Laboratory responded to requests for comment about the staffing changes or Rajendra’s departure. The shakeup comes at a pivotal time for NASA, which is facing increasing pressure to balance social priorities with mission-critical outcomes in the face of budget cuts and high-stakes space exploration projects.
