Dr. Rainee N. Simons is chief of the Electron and Optical Devices Branch at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in Cleveland, Ohio. He is currently working in the area of high-efficiency space traveling wave tube (TWT) power combiners for communications near Earth as well as from deep space.

Dr. Simons earned his bachelor’s degree in electronics and communications engineering from the Mysore University in India in 1972, and his master’s degree in electronics and communications engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in 1974. He earned his doctoral degree in electrical engineering from IIT in 1983.

Dr. Simons began his career as a senior scientific officer with the IIT in 1979, where he was involved with finline components for millimeter-wave applications and X-band toroidal latching ferrite phase shifters for phased arrays. At NASA, he has been involved with optical control of metal-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MESFET) and high electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) devices, high-temperature superconductivity, modeling of coplanar waveguide and coplanar stripline (CPW/CPS) discontinuities, CPW feed systems for printed antennas, linearly tapered slot arrays, packaging of monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs), silicon carbide (SiC) diode mixers, radiofrequency microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and gallium nitride (GaN) solid-state power amplifiers.

Dr. Simons has authored or coauthored over 125 publications in refereed journals and international symposium proceedings. He authored Optical Control of Microwave Devices and Coplanar Waveguide Circuits, Components, and Systems. He holds two U.S. patents. Dr. Simons has also organized workshops, chaired sessions, and served on the technical program committees of several Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) international symposia. He is a member of the editorial board of the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, and an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. He is the recipient of more than a dozen NASA Tech Brief Awards and the IIT Distinguished Alumni Award. He also received the NASA Public Service Medal in 2001 for pioneering the research and development of microwave-printed antennas and distribution media. He is a Fellow of the IEEE. Dr. Simons came to NASA in 1985.