Faculty Record

The category of the professor in the academic roster, the number of its office, its fields of interest, the telephone extension is indicated [ Tel. (787)832-4040 or (787)834-7620 for CID], email, and page of the Web.

Name: Sandra Cruz Pol
Title: Professor
Field of interest: Microwave Remote Sensing, Atmospheric Absorption Modeling, Microwave Ocean Emissivity
Office: SA-205
Extension: 2444/5839
Email: SandraCruzPol@ieee.org
Bio: Sandra Cruz Pol received her BS from UPRM, MS from UMass and PHD from Penn State University, all in Electrical Engineering and with the Magna Cum Laude distinction. Her graduate research included the Calibration of the Microwave Atmospheric Absorption Model near 22 GHz and the Ocean Emissivity Model for Microwave Brightness Temperatures seen from space over Calm Ocean utilizing data from the TOPEX/Poseidon Satellite Mission and ancillary oceanographic and atmospheric data. She is currently an Associate Professor and the director of the Laboratory CLiMMATE (CLoud Microwave Measurements of ATmospheric Events). She is currently working in various projects sponsored by NSF and NASA, within the microwave remote sensing area including an Engineering Research Center. In addition, she recently received the NASA Faculty Award for Research for she is working in the retrieval of cloud microphysical parameters using a dual-frequency millimeter-wave Cloud Profiling Radar System (CPRS) and in the precipitation estimation using S-band and W-band radars, in a joint project with the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Microwave Remote Sensing Laboratory (MIRSL). She is currently working on a proposal to NSF for extreme weather events and clear atmosphere detection using a network of low power microwave radars which would significantly improve current weather forecasting. This last project is in collaboration with University of Massachusetts at Amherst, University of Colorado, and University of Oklahoma. Dr. Cruz-Pol developed a graduate course on Microwave Remote Sensing and teaches courses in the area of Applied Electromagnetics including Antenna Theory, and Electromagnetic Theory. Her research interests include Microwave Remote Sensing of natural phenomena, modeling of the Microwave Atmospheric Absorption and stratus, cirrus and precipitation clouds studies using S, W and Ka-Bands. Dr. Cruz-Pol is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society, the Society of Women Engineers and of the Tau Beta Pi and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Societies. For two years, she was the counselor for the student chapter of the IEEE in UPRM, the largest in Region 9. She has been recipient of NASA, GEM, NFS-GEE and GTE Fellowships.