Jennifer Kunz, ‘90 industrial and systems engineering, was awarded NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal by NASA administrator Charles Bolden in June. The Distinguished Service Medal is the highest award presented to a NASA civilian employee and was given in recognition of service in supporting the human exploration and operations missions. Kunz is the deputy manager of ground systems development and operations mission and leads the 2,000-person government and contractor team in preparing the Kennedy Space Center facilities to test, launch and recover the Orion spacecraft and space launch system launch vehicle. In addition, Kunz has made significant impacts to numerous NASA programs including the Space Shuttle, International Space Station and Constellation.