Presented to Janet Barth at the RADECS (Radiation Effects on Components and Systems) Conference 2023, Toulouse, France

During a special session of RADECS, in September in Toulouse, France, Professor Vesna Sossi, President of the NPSS,  representing the IEEE Board of Directors, presented the 2023 IEEE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award to Janet L. Barth. Sponsored by the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society, the award recognizes outstanding contributions to the field of nuclear and plasma sciences and engineering. Under consideration in selecting the recipient are the importance of individual scientific contribution, importance of scientific contributions made by teams led by the candidate, seminal nature of the contribution, innovation/originality, societal benefit, impact on the profession, and the quality of the nomination. 

Ms. Barth has been active in the radiation effects community for more than 40 years. She was a lead radiation-hardness assurance engineer for NASA space flight programs and supported the NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging Program, which focuses on the reliability of electronic parts for space programs. Ms. Barth was on the proposal team for the NASA Living with a Star Program and served on NASA’s LWS Science Architecture Committee. As chief of the Electrical Engineering Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Ms. Barth was responsible for the delivery of spacecraft and instrument avionics to numerous NASA missions, including the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the SWIFT Burst Alert Telescope, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Global Precipitation Measurement mission, and the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission. She also directed the development of microwave and optical communications systems and suborbital avionics systems at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.

Early on, she recognized that the increased use of emerging technologies and highly integrated electronics in space systems was rapidly outpacing the knowledge of space radiation environments. Focusing on the shortcomings of the radiation models that were then current, she established a path forward for standardized next-generation models. She captained the effort to replace the decades-old Van Allen radiation belt models and define requirements for space-plasma models for use in the space-systems-development community.

Her pioneering efforts enabled today’s robust space systems and successful space missions. She retired in 2014 from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center but continues to support NASA programs as an Emeritus Scientist. 

Janet has also made impressive contributions to NPSS and to the advancement of women in engineering in many different roles — for example, she was NPSS president — the second woman to serve in this position. She has been an active speaker at many WIE events and a strong supporter of women scientists throughout her career.  She is one of those rare people who not only significantly influence progress in science, but also impacts the quest for human rights. 

Citation: For leadership of and contributions to the advancement of the design, building, deployment, and operation of capable, robust space systems.

An IEEE Life Fellow, Ms. Barth is an advisor to Miller Engineering & Research Corporation or MERC, located in Greenbelt, Maryland, in the US. 

Janet Barth can be reached by E-mail at: [email protected]

Jean-Luc Leray, who nominated Janet for this award, can be reached by E-mail at [email protected]

For additional information contact Teresa Farris, RE vice chair for Publicity by E-mail at [email protected].

Photo credit: Lawrence French, Getty Photographer