Honorary Degree Recipient
Dr. Joseph A. Burns '62
Joseph A. Burns received his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1966. He was Cornell's Vice Provost of Physical Sciences and Engineering between 2003-2007. His B.S. in naval architecture was obtained from Webb Institute in 1962. In addition to his activities at Cornell, Burns was an NRC post-doc at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in 1967-68 and was a Senior Investigator during 1975-76 and again in 1982-83 at NASA's Ames Research Center. Burns is active on planning and interpreting results obtained by the Cassini mission around Saturn. He has recently organized exhibits of Cassini results that have appeared at the American Museum of Natural History (NYC) and the National Air and Space Museum (Washington), among other venues. His current research concerns planetary rings and the small bodies of the solar system (dust, satellites, comets and asteroids).
Webb Institute awarded Dr. Burns an Honorary Doctorate of Science during the commencement ceremony.
