Barbara Wilson

Honorary Degree 2005 Doctor of Science

Barbara Wilson '68 is program manager for the Center for Space Microelectronics Technology at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California, and also serves as JPL’s chief technologist.

A physicist with a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a bachelor's degree from Mount Holyoke, Wilson joined JPL in 1988 as technical group supervisor of the Microdevices Section. Shortly thereafter she was named manager of the Microdevices Laboratory, a facility operating under the umbrella of the Center for Space Microelectronics Technology.

She most recently served as program manager for JPL’s Earth Science Program Office and technologist for NASA’s New Millennium Program, which sponsors spacecraft missions designed to test new technologies so that they may be confidently used on science missions of the future. She is the recipient of the NASA Special Achievement Medal for her contributions to the New Millennium Program.

Before joining JPL, she served as supervisor of the Optoelectronic Materials Research Group at AT&T Bell Labs, where she was awarded the company’s exceptional contribution award for her work in semiconductor devices.