JPL's Dr. Linda J. Horn, mission scientist for the U.S.- European Cassini mission to Saturn, has been named Distinguished Alumna by the California State University, Los Angeles' School of Natural and Social Sciences.
Horn is among eight individuals who will receive the university's highest honors at an awards ceremony Mar. 19 to acknowledge "outstanding achievements have brought distinction to the University."
In the past, such notable alumni as educator Jaime Escalante, novelist Joseph Wambaugh, LAPD Deputy Police Chief Mark Kroeker, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Screen Actors Guild past president Barry Gordon, and physicist and NASA astronaut Samuel Durrance were honored at this CSULA Alumni Association event.
Internationally known in for her work in the study of planetary rings, Horn has worked at JPL since 1977. While working at JPL, she earned her masters in physics at Cal State Los Angeles in 1983 and PhD. in geophysics and space physics from UCLA in 1992. On the Voyager project from 1977 to 1990, she participated in the collection and analysis of science data from the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. As Cassini mission scientist, she coordinates the work of U.S. and European science teams. She is also a co- investigator on the Cassini composite infrared spectrometer team, where she leads the scientific planning for studies of Saturn's rings. She is co-author of 50 publications and abstracts.
In 1982, Horn earned the NASA Scientific Achievement Award, and in 1990 was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for her work on the Voyager infrared interferometer-spectrometer investigation during the 1989 Neptune flyby. Horn lives in Monrovia with her two daughters, Jennifer and Jessica.
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