CACI’s Linda Braun Receives Pinnacle Award for Space Industry Executive of the Year
Leads CACI’s photonics technologies team, which is advancing innovations in deep space communications, sensing, and processing
RESTON, Va., January 9, 2023 /3BL Media/ - CACI International Inc (NYSE: CACI) announced today that the company’s Vice President of Optical and Photonics Systems, Linda Braun, Ph.D., was recently recognized as the winner of the 2022 Pinnacle Award for Space Industry Executive of the Year for a public company by WashingtonExec. The award ceremony was held on November 30 in McLean, Virginia.
Braun joined CACI in 2019 and has led the successful execution of three space hardware production programs. During her career, she has created of some of the most advanced free space optical (FSO) laser communications and remote optical sensing solutions available in the market. She has authored more than 30 technical publications and delivered numerous talks at conferences, universities, and industrial and government laboratories. She holds two patents, and in 2019 Braun was the recipient of the Rutgers School of Engineering Distinguished Alumna Award for Research.
John Mengucci, CACI President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Thanks to Linda’s leadership and her team’s hard work, we are industry leaders in deploying photonics technology to solve some very difficult challenges in space and across domains. Our customers are becoming increasingly dependent on real-time communications to help leaders make decisions quickly and CACI’s photonics technology pushes the boundaries of what’s possible. We are all very proud of Linda’s role in advancing this critical field.”
Braun’s team conducts extensive research and development on applying the physical science of light waves to a broad set of national security and communications applications. Her group is responsible for deploying new photonic technologies in space, such as long-range sensing applications, precision navigation, and high-speed networks using laser communication technologies. Thanks to Braun’s leadership, CACI is one of the few companies that can deliver hardware solutions across low earth orbits (LEO), medium earth orbits (MEO), and geosynchronous equatorial orbits (GEO) along with airborne and land applications.
CACI’s optical and photonics experts are at the forefront of realizing the potential of deep space communications, such as leveraging the technology for high-speed transmissions from Earth to Mars and beyond. The company successfully demonstrated optical communications between two DARPA satellites in LEO during an April 2022 test and is designing laser communications systems for numerous space hardware programs, including NASA’s Orion EM-2 Optical Communications (O2O) project, which will enable broadband data communications to and from the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle designed to take humans into lunar orbit. CACI is also working on NASA’s Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) LEO User Modem and Amplifier Terminal program (ILLUMA-T), which will deploy laser communications technology on the International Space Station.
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