NORTH LOGAN — Jed Hancock, president of Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory, has been awarded the Utah Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology within the Government class. Hancock obtained the award throughout a ceremony honoring 4 recipients on April 30.
The Governor’s Medal for Science and Technology, established in 1987, is the state’s highest civilian honor that acknowledges people whose work has contributed to scientific development, financial improvement, and high quality of life in Utah.
Hancock leads SDL, which is wholly owned by USU and is certainly one of 15 University Affiliated Research Centers within the United States. In his position as SDL president, Hancock oversees analysis and improvement efforts that prioritize collaboration with the federal government, academia, trade and business companions. This work consists of superior sensing and techniques; autonomous techniques and clever management; area mission design and operations; built-in command and management; and modeling, simulation and phenomenology.
Since changing into president in 2021, Hancock has led a interval of enlargement at SDL, together with progress in its workforce and technical capabilities and a rise within the scale and complexity of its packages.
Hancock’s management and electro-optical system technical contributions embody work on a number of NASA missions, together with:
- OSIRIS-Rex, the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security — Regolith Explorer.
- ICON, the Ionospheric Connection Explorer.
- NEO Surveyor, the Near-Earth Object Surveyor planetary protection mission.
The OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite, or OCAMS, with its electronics developed by an SDL-led staff, supported the profitable return of asteroid samples to Utah in 2023 and obtained a NASA Silver Achievement Medal.
“I’m honored to receive this recognition,” Hancock stated. “The work at SDL is carried out by a highly capable team, and this award reflects their expertise and commitment. Our employees are engaged in developing and delivering technologies that support some of the nation’s most important missions, from space science to national security. It is a privilege to work alongside people who contribute to efforts of that scale and importance.”
The Governor’s Medal is awarded yearly in 4 classes: Ok-12 schooling, analysis and academia, trade, and authorities. The authorities class acknowledges contributions that assist public sector missions, together with protection, intelligence and different nationwide priorities.
In addition to his management at SDL, Hancock serves as adjunct school at USU, the place he teaches optical sciences programs and participates in graduate schooling and group STEM outreach.
Headquartered at USU’s Innovation Campus in North Logan, SDL is an unbiased nonprofit company owned by USU that solves technical challenges confronted by the army, science group, and trade and helps NASA’s imaginative and prescient to discover the secrets and techniques of the universe for the advantage of all. SDL has discipline places of work in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Chantilly, Virginia; Huntsville, Alabama; Ogden, Utah; and Stafford, Virginia.