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Release: 01-089

NASA Marshall Center physicist Dr. Ruth Jones honored by local civic club

Dr. Ruth D. Jones of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has been honored by a local civic club recognizing young women who serve as role models for youth.

The "You Go Girl" Award, given annually by the Sui Generis Civic Club of Decatur, Ala., acknowledges young women "trying to make a difference in the quality of life for others and who have extraordinary accomplishments."

Jones is the second African-American woman to receive a doctorate in physics in the state of Alabama, and the first female to receive a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

An optical physicist with the Marshall Center's Space Optics Manufacturing Technology Center, she investigates new techniques for testing and fabricating optical elements for the Center's microgravity research facilities.

Prior to joining NASA full-time in 2000, Jones was a summer intern at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., a graduate research assistant at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M., and a cooperative education student at the Marshall Center. She worked at Marshall as an electrical engineer while earning her doctorate. She also holds a master's degree in physics from Alabama A&M University of Huntsville, Ala.

Jones, the author of numerous articles on optical physics, is a member of the Optical Society of America and the International Society for Optical Engineering.

A native of West Helena, Ark., Jones is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Jones of West Helena. She resides in Huntsville.