Penn State graduate Jane Rigby has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The White House announced on Friday.
Rigby is a NASA astrophysicist and serves as senior project scientist for NASA's Webb Telescope. She studies how galaxies evolve over cosmic time and has published over 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers.
Rigby was named in Nature.com's 2022 list of 10 people shaping science and the BBC's list of 100 inspiring and influential women in the same year. She also received her NASA's Outstanding Scientific Achievement Medal in 2022.
Rigby graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor's degree in physics and astronomy. She also earned a master's degree in astronomy from Arizona State and her Ph.D.
Rigby, a member of Penn State's Class of 2000, was honored along with Michael Bloomberg, Al Gore, John Kerry and Nancy Pelosi.
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