Marija Strojnik Scholl (born 13 July 1950 in Ljubljana) is a Slovene astrophysicist currently working as a distinguished professor at the Optical Research Center in León, Mexico.
She is best known for developing an autonomous system for optical navigation based on CCD technology which is currently used in nearly all commercial aircraft and numerous spacecraft, including in the NASA Cassini mission.
[2][3][4] Specializing in infrared physics, she became manager of the optics department at the Rockwell International corporation, then a senior engineer at Honeywell and at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Marija is honored for being a distinguished national and international scientist, and in gratitude for her warmth, generosity with knowledge and for sharing experiences as a woman, a colleague, and a mentor.
[7][8] In July 2022, Marija Strojnik became the Elected President of the Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society (ΣΞ), with nearly 60,000 members in the US and internationally.
During Dr. Strojnik's tenure, the Society increased membership, trimmed budget overrun twice, and recorded the highest levels of participation and attendance in 10 years at the annual meeting in Long Beach, California.