Cinzia Zuffada

Cinzia Zuffada (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in engineering from the University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, in 1979. In 1992, she joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, USA, where she is currently the Deputy Chief Scientist. She is a Key Contributor to the strategic planning of science and technology research and development directions for JPL and to managing institutional internal research and development investments. In addition, she oversees a number of programs supporting collaborations between JPL and the Academic Community. Since the late-1990s, she has led some pioneering global navigation satellite system (GNSS) reflectometry technology development awarded through the NASA IIP and has played a pivotal role in demonstrating the feasibility of global positioning system (GPS) altimetry measurement from fixed sites and airplanes. More recently, she has been focusing on the application of GNSS reflectometry to detect surface water, as a member of the Competed Science Team of NASA CYGNSS. She has been a member of the Science Advisory Group for GEROS. She was a tenured Researcher in electromagnetic (EM) field theory with the University of Pavia before moving to USA, where she worked on electromagnetic (EM) scattering and radiation problems. Dr. Zuffada is a member of the URSI Commission B and the American Geophysical Union. She is also a member of the Science Advisory Group for HydroGNSS and an ESA GNSS reflectometry experiment. She was a recipient of the Teresian Medal from the University of Pavia in 2002, the Magellan Award from JPL in 2014, the Outstanding Leadership Award from NASA in 2015, and the Knighthood of Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2015. She is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.