Recognition of Achievements

IEEE Milestones Dedicated

The IEEE Milestones in Electrical Engineering and Computing Program recognizes exceptionally important technical achievements that occurred at least 25 years earlier. Since 1983, more than 130 Milestones have been approved and commemorative plaques placed near where the achievement occurred. In 2012, 14 new Milestones plaques were dedicated. These included the first two in India, and the second in South America (Uruguay). The IEEE Milestones recognized in 2012 include:

1894-1896

First Millimeter-Wave Communication Experiments, Calcutta, India

1895

Mainline Electrification of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Baltimore, Md., USA

1909

World’s First Reliable High-Voltage Power Fuse, Chicago, Ill., USA

1928

Molecular Scattering of Light (Raman Effect), Calcutta, India

1940-1946

Loran Navigation System, Boston, Mass., USA

1944-1959

Whirlwind Computer, Cambridge, Mass., USA

1945

Rincon del Bonete Hydroelectric Plant and Transmission System, Rio Negro, Uruguay

1951-1958

Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) System, Cambridge, Mass., USA

1952

Invention of the Barcode, Philadelphia, Pa., USA

1961-1964

The First Optical Fiber Laser and Amplifier, Southbridge, Mass., USA

1970

First Low-Loss Optical Fiber for Telecommunications, Corning, N.Y., USA

1972

First Practical Field Emission Electron Microscope, Tokyo, Japan

1976-1978

The Floating Gate EEPROM, Newport Beach, Calif., USA

1980

International Standardization of G3 Facsimile, Yokosuka, Japan

• All IEEE Milestones are described in detail at the IEEE Global History Network website, IEEEGHN.org.

Awards & Honors

2012 IEEE Honors Ceremony Celebrates Stanford University President John Hennessy

John L. Hennessy, who pioneered the RISC processor architecture and who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in computer engineering and higher education, was presented with the IEEE Medal of Honor at the IEEE Honors Ceremony on 30 June in Boston, Mass. Sponsored by the IEEE Foundation, the IEEE Medal of Honor was one of 21 IEEE medals and recognitions presented at the ceremony, which is IEEE’s most prestigious event. The event was broadcast live on IEEE.tv. On the day following the ceremony, Hennessy, an IEEE Fellow and president of Stanford University, addressed the IEEE Board of Directors on the changing landscape of university education.

2012 IEEE President-elect Peter Staecker (l.) and 2012 President Gordon Day (r.) present IEEE Fellow and Stanford University President John L. Hennessy (center) with the IEEE Medal of Honor.

Change the World Competition Awards Student Leaders

The IEEE Presidents’ Change the World Competition recognizes students who identify a real-world problem and apply engineering, science, computing, and leadership skills to solve it for the benefit of their community and humanity. The winners of the 2012 competition were a team of students from Oxford University. Their project, Clean Water: Transforming a Natural Disaster into a Natural Resource, addresses the serious problem of water contamination in Bangladesh with a novel solution: a fern that can accumulate contaminants directly from water. The winners received their award at the 2012 IEEE Honors Ceremony, along with a check for US$10,000.

IEEE Technical Field Awards Recognize Excellence

IEEE Technical Field Awards recognize contributions or leadership in IEEE fields of interest and are presented throughout the year at selected IEEE conferences and events. The 2012 awards acknowledged achievements in 32 different categories.

IEEE Honors 297 New Fellows

On 28 November 2012, The IEEE Board of Directors elevated 297 IEEE senior members to the grade of Fellow, effective 1 January 2013. The grade of Fellow is conferred by the Board on individuals with an extraordinary record of accomplishment in any of the IEEE fields of interest. The total number of Fellows elevated each year cannot exceed one-10th of a percent of the total voting membership. IEEE Fellow is the highest grade of membership and is recognized by the global technical community as a prestigious honor and an important career accomplishment.

* For a full listing of IEEE Awards and Honors visit: IEEE.org/awards

Achievements in 2012

IEEE achievements in 2012 were singled out for distinction by several institutions and associations.

IEEE Spectrum Receives National Magazine Award from American Society of Magazine Editors

Established in 1966, the National Magazine Awards are the preeminent honors in US magazine journalism. In the 2012 competition, IEEE Spectrum won for General Excellence among “thought-leader” publications. That year, overall, the field of submissions included 1,804 entries from 270 magazines.

To select a General Excellence winner the judges consider and recognize all of a magazine’s many facets–not just its editorial content, but also its design, photography, and illustrations. The win was IEEE Spectrum’s fifth in the National Magazine Awards. In addition to those wins, Spectrum has been a finalist twelve other times.

IEEE-USA Publications Capture Prestigious Awards

IEEE-USA in Action, an interactive publication, received the APEX Award for Excellence in Multimedia Publications, one of only eight publications so honored out of 332 entries. IEEE-USA’s Today’s Engineer online publication was also recognized by the publishing community with a 2012 APEX Award for Publication Excellence in the electronic/web newsletter category. In 2012, IEEE-USA also laid plans to merge these high-quality publications into a new flagship IEEE-USA periodical.

IEEE Named One of the Best Places to Work in New Jersey

IEEE was named one of the Best Places to Work in New Jersey by NJBIZ, a weekly New Jersey business journal for the second consecutive year. To qualify, companies were evaluated on criteria that addressed workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems, demographics, and the results of an employee survey. Since 2005, NJBIZ has honored the top New Jersey places of employment that benefit the state’s economy, workforce, and businesses.