Sandra Cruz-Pol

Sandra Cruz-Pol was a rotator (VSEE) at NSF in 2014 for one year, then came as a permanent PD in 2018. Dr. Cruz-Pol received a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University working with passive and active satellite sensors studying atmospheric gases and the sea surface emissivity. She worked in active remote sensing at UMass for her master’s degree. Her Bachelor’s degree is from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM). All three degrees were obtained with the Suma Cum Laude distinction. She joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UPRM in 1991.

She was a member of U.S. National Academies (NAS) Committee on Radio Frequencies (CORF) from 2010 until 2019. She was also an appointed member of the NAS Active Spectrum Study. She was the Program Director for the EARS (Enhancing Access to the Radio Spectrum) program at NSF, where she was also a Spectrum Manager. She was a member of the IEEE FARS (Frequency Allocations for Remote Sensing) Technical Committee. She was appointed by NSF as member of the U.S. Delegation for Spectrum Management to the ITU in Geneva and was the NSF Representative for the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) at the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and for several subcommittees including the one that deals with Frequency Allocations, FAS. During her rotation at NSF she was selected as the Federal Liaison for the U.S. National Committee for the International Union for Radio Science (URSI). At NSF she's a Program Director for the Engineering Research Center (ERC) program and the ERC International Center-to-Centre (C2C) Liaison.  

Her interests include microwave sensors, weather radars, atmospheric attenuation, radio frequency spectrum management, and climate monitoring. She received the NASA Faculty Award for Research in 2002. Dr. Cruz-Pol is a Senior member of the IEEE. She was the Associate Editor for University Affairs for the IEEE GRSS Newsletter for 5 years.