NJ Italian American Heritage Commission - Dr. Gilda Rorro Baldassari

The New Jersey Italian and Italian American Heritage Commission

Members

	Frank Gargione Commissioner
Appointed:	At the start of commission
Occupation:	Independent Satellite System Consultant
Affiliations/Committees/ Organizations:	Member of the Stewardship Committee and previously member of the Financial Council and the Parish Council of the Church of St. Joachim in Trenton, NJ Founding Member and Treasurer of the American Italian Historical Association, Central Jersey Chapter Current President and member since 1971 of the Lawrence Township Lions Club.
Professional Experience	Retired from Lockheed Martin in December 1998 as the Program Manager of NASA’s Advanced Communications Technology Satellite Independent Satellite System Consultant starting in 1999 Served as NASA Representative on the ACTS Program at Lockheed Martin in Newtown, Pa, until 2004 Manager of ACTS Spacecraft Systems, Manager of ACTS Systems, and Manager of Systems and Operations Editor of the WTEC Report on the Global Satellite Communications Technology and Systems.
Educational Background:	BSEE, Communications Option, Drexel University, 1961 MSEE, Computer Sciences, Moore School, University of Pennsylvania, 1965
Honors Received	Author of theYear, 1995, Lockheed Martin Astrospace. Inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame in 1997 for efforts on ACTS. Inducted into the National Italian American Hall of Fame in 1997 Received the Hawersaat Award from NASA Glenn Research Center in 2000 International Space Communications Award “Cristoforo Colombo” 2002 Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella della Solidarita’ Italiana, 2007
Publications	Co-authored the book “ The Advanced Communications Technology Satellite, an insider’s account of the emergence of broadband in space”, Scitech Publishing, Mendham, N.J. Authored a number of technical papers on hybrids, computer aided design, the ACTS program and Astrolink Contributed several articles to Satellite Communications and Launchspace magazines Served as guest coeditor of the Feb. 99 IEEE JSAC issue on “Direct-to-User Satellite Systems and Technologies at Ka Band and beyond”