ÌÇÐÄVlogÆƽâ°æ

Outstanding Alumni for Excellence in Public Service
Over 40 Category

Dr. Bruce Haines is a Principal Research Technologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he has worked since 1991. During his tenure at JPL, he has led a wide variety of research and NASA flight project efforts in the fields of satellite altimetry, GPS applications and satellite geodesy.Ìý

Haines’ sustained leadership in the fields of precise orbit determination and calibration/validation of satellite radar altimetry has been important to the enduring success of the international reference series of satellite altimeter missions. Beginning with the TOPEX/Poseidon project in 1992, these NASA-partnered missions have provided an extraordinary and uninterrupted record of sea level and ocean circulation over the past three decades. Ìý

More recently, Haines is leading efforts at JPL to use GPS in determining fundamental parameters of the Earth reference frame and gravity field. This research has lent new insights on efficient architectures for the future NASA space geodesy network, which will provide foundational observations for monitoring the changing shape of the solid Earth and its oceans. He is also leading a project to advance autonomous GNSS measurement systems on the oceans to support in-situ verification of NASA missions and to advance studies of sea level and weather.

Over his 34-year career at JPL, Haines has cultivated a wide variety of university, government, and commercial partnerships, and has enjoyed mentoring many graduate students and early-career hires. Haines is author or co-author of over 250 publications, and has received the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and the Institute of Navigation Tycho Brahe Award.Ìý

Born and raised in Grand Junction, Colorado, Haines is a devoted CU Buff. He received his BS (1986), MS (1987) and PhD (1991) in Aerospace Engineering Sciences, all from CU ÌÇÐÄVlogÆƽâ°æ. He was one of the first graduate students in the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, where he was advised by its founder, Professor George H. Born.