Penina Axelrad facts for kids
Penina Axelrad is an amazing American engineer who studies space! She is known for her work with satellites and the Global Positioning System (GPS). GPS helps us find our way using signals from satellites. Penina Axelrad is a special professor at the University of Colorado. She works in the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research. This center studies how things move in space. She also teaches in the Aerospace Engineering Sciences department.
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Penina Axelrad's Journey in Engineering
Her School Days
Penina Axelrad went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This is a very famous science and engineering school. She earned two degrees there. First, she got a bachelor's degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1985. Then, she got her master's degree in the same field in 1986. Aeronautical engineering is about designing and building aircraft. Astronautical engineering is about spacecraft and rockets. While at MIT, she was also the captain of the university's fencing team. Fencing is a sport where people fight with swords.
After MIT, she went to Stanford University. She earned her Ph.D. there in 1991. For her Ph.D., she worked on plans for a project called Gravity Probe B. This project studied how gravity works in space. Her professor, Bradford Parkinson, helped her with this work. He is often called the "father of GPS."
Her Career in Space Science
After finishing her Ph.D., Penina Axelrad taught at Stanford for a year. She also worked for a company called Stanford Telecommunications Corp. In 1992, she moved to the University of Colorado. She started there as a professor. She became a full professor in 2005. From 2012 to 2017, she was the head of the aerospace engineering sciences department.
Penina Axelrad helps guide important space projects. She is a member of the GPS Advisory Board. This board gives advice about how GPS works. She is also part of the NASA Advisory Council. This group advises NASA on its space missions. From 2004 to 2005, she was the president of the Institute of Navigation. This is a group for people who study navigation.
Awards and Honors
Penina Axelrad has received many important awards for her work. These awards show how much she has contributed to space engineering.
Major Awards and Recognitions
In 1996, she won the Lawrence Sperry Award. This award is from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. This group is for people who work in air and space travel.
The Institute of Navigation gave her two big awards. In 2002, she received the Tycho Brahe Award. This was for her help in understanding space navigation. Navigation is about finding your way. It also recognized her work in guiding and controlling spacecraft. In 2009, she received the Johannes Kepler Award. This award was for her continued work in satellite navigation. It also recognized her dedication to teaching new engineers. She also helped many professional groups.
In 2015, Women in Aerospace gave her the Aerospace Educator Award. This award was for her great work in teaching aerospace engineering. She helped create hands-on lessons at the University of Colorado. She also spent a lot of time helping students, especially women and other groups who are often not seen in engineering.
Being a Fellow and National Academy Member
Being named a "Fellow" means someone is highly respected in their field. Penina Axelrad became a Fellow of the Institute of Navigation in 2004. This was for her work in research and teaching about space dynamics and GPS technology. She also became a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2008.
In 2019, she was chosen for the National Academy of Engineering. This is a very high honor for engineers in the United States. She was chosen for her work with GPS signals. She found ways to use these signals to make navigation better. She also found new ways to use remote sensing. Remote sensing is about gathering information about Earth from far away, like from satellites.
In 2018, the University of Colorado gave her the Joseph T. Negler Professorship. This is a special title for professors who have done outstanding work.
See also
In Spanish: Penina Axelrad para niños
