Born in Los Angeles to Armenian-Iranian parents Gayane Anahid Kazarians is a Planetary Protection Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).Currently, she is actively involved with the Planetary Protection Group, particularly as a team member for both the InSight and Mars 2020 Missions.Anahid’s parents had immigrated to the United States from Iran but decided to move back to Tehran where Anahid attended Iranzamin-Tehran International School and graduated in 1977.With the onset of the 1979 Revolution, Anahid and her parents moved back to the United States where she received a Bachelors Degree in Microbiology from the University of California, at Los Angeles, (UCLA), in 1984.