IEEE Celebrates Innovators Shaping the Future

Every year, IEEE recognizes individual researchers, innovators, and collaborative teams whose technical achievements and leadership have made a lasting impact on technology, engineering, and society worldwide with its Technical Field Awards. The honorees are selected by the IEEE Awards Board based on their extraordinary technical achievements, societal impact, and leadership in specialized engineering disciplines and are approved by the IEEE Board of Directors. “The 2027 IEEE Technical Field Award recipients embody the relentless spirit of innovation and ingenuity that defines our global community,” said Mary Ellen Randall, 2026 IEEE president and CEO in a news release. “Across microelectronics, artificial intelligence, medical robotics, wireless networks, energy conversion, and technical education, their groundbreaking accomplishments continue to push the boundaries of science and solve critical challenges for the benefit of humanity.” IEEE Technical Field Award recipients IEEE Biomedical Engineering Award Sponsors: IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology, IEEE Circuits and Systems, and IEEE Signal Processing societies IEEE Life Fellow Kullervo Hynynen Sunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto, and the University of Toronto “For pioneering contributions to the development, advancement, and clinical translation of therapeutic ultrasound.” IEEE Cledo Brunetti Award Sponsor: The Brunetti Bequest IEEE Member Edward Charles Gage IEEE Fellow Ganping Ju IEEE Fellow Jan-Ulrich Thiele Seagate Technology in Cupertino, Calif. “For contributions to heat-assisted magnetic technology powering ultra-high-capacity hard disk drives and enabling greater storage of digital information.” IEEE Roger W. Brockett Control Systems Award Sponsors: IEEE Control Systems Society and Friends and Family of Roger W. Brockett IEEE Life Fellow Arjan van der Schaft Bernoulli Institute at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands (Retired) “For contributions to robust and geometric approaches to nonlinear control, hybrid systems, and the control of physical systems.” IEEE Electromagnetics Award Sponsors: IEEE Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing, and IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology societies IEEE Fellow Zoya Popović University of Colorado Boulder “For contributions to microwave and millimeter-wave circuit designs, including power amplifiers, power-combining, and wireless power systems.” IEEE James L. Flanagan Speech and Audio Processing Award Sponsor: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) IEEE Life Fellow Chin-Hui Lee Georgia Tech “For contributions to and leadership in technologies that enable automatic speech and speaker recognition, including innovations in adaptive learning and discriminative training.” IEEE Fourier Award for Signal Processing Sponsor: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) IEEE Fellow Nicholas Dimitrios Sidiropoulos University of Virginia in Charlottesville “For contributions to signal processing methods for analyzing complex data and identifying patterns in multiple dimensions.” IEEE Andrew S. Grove Award Sponsor: IEEE Electron Devices Society IEEE Fellow John Robert Brews University of Arizona in Tucson (Retired) “For foundational contributions to the physics and technology underlying MOS devices and circuits.” IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Technology Award Sponsor: Sony Group Corporation IEEE Honorary Member Mike Lazaridis Quantum Valley Investments in Waterloo, Ont., Canada “For transformative contributions to mobile communication through visionary leadership that reshaped global consumer technology.” IEEE Internet Award Sponsor: Google LLC IEEE Fellow Matthew Roughan Adelaide University in Australia “For foundational contributions to analyzing Internet traffic and network structures, enabling better network management and understanding.” IEEE Richard Harold Kaufmann Award Sponsor: IEEE Industry Applications Society IEEE Fellow Akshay Kumar Rathore National University of Singapore “For developing innovative current-fed and multilevel power electronics converters.” IEEE Joseph F. Keithley Award in Instrumentation and Measurement Sponsors: Tektronix Inc. and the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society IEEE Life Fellow Pasquale Daponte University of Sannio in Benevento, Italy “For contributions to the measurement and standardization of analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters.” IEEE Gustav Robert Kirchhoff Award Sponsor: IEEE Circuits and Systems Society IEEE Life Fellow Janusz Rajski Siemens Digital Industries Software in Wilsonville, Ore. “For contributions to testing digital integrated circuits at the silicon level.” IEEE Leon K. Kirchmayer Graduate Teaching Award Sponsor: The IEEE Leon K. Kirchmayer Memorial Fund IEEE Life Fellow Rama Chellappa Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore “For contributions to multi-disciplinary graduate education and mentoring of doctoral students in image processing, computer vision, and pattern recognition.” IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award Sponsor: NEC Corporation IEEE Member Amin Vahdat Google in Mountain View, Calif. “For developing network systems that scale data centers to support modern cloud computing and machine learning.” IEEE Arun N. Netravali Video Analytics, Technology, and Systems Award Sponsor: Nokia Bell Labs IEEE Life Member Jens-Rainer Ohm RWTH Aachen University in Germany (Professor Emeritus) IEEE Life Fellow Gary J. Sullivan Dolby Laboratories in San Francisco IEEE Member Benjamin Bross Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications Heinrich-Hertz-Institut in Berlin “For leadership in and contributions to developing the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) international standard, which improves the efficiency of digital video compression.” IEEE William E. Newell Power Electronics Award Sponsor: IEEE Power Electronics Society IEEE Fellow Paolo Mattavelli University of Padova in Padua, Italy “For contributions to advanced modeling and control of power electronics converters.” IEEE Donald O. Pederson Award in Solid-State Circuits Sponsor: IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society IEEE Life Fellow Wanda Kay Gass Texas Instruments in Bellevue, Wash. (Retired) “For pioneering contributions to programmable digital signal processing systems through innovations in circuit design, system architecture, and silicon compilers.” IEEE Frederik Philips Award Sponsor: The IEEE Frederik Philips Award Fund Recipient: IEEE Member Ann B. Kelleher Intel in Portland, Ore. (Retired) “For leading the historic advancement of CMOS process technology, culminating in the first node with backside power delivery.” IEEE Photonics Award Sponsor: IEEE Photonics Society IEEE Life Fellow Martin David Dawson University of Strathclyde in Glasgow “For contributions to microstructured and wide-bandgap semiconductor optoelectronics and for leadership in technological innovation.” IEEE Robotics and Automation Award Sponsor: IEEE Robotics and Automation Society IEEE Life Fellow Russell H. Taylor Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore “For contributions to, leadership in, and the clinical translation of surgical and medical robotics.” IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award Sponsor: IEEE Computational Intelligence Society IEEE Life Fellow Shun-ichi Amari Teikyo University in Tokyo “For foundational contributions to neural network theory and information geometry.” IEEE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award Sponsor: IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society Victor Malka Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel “For leadership in the development of laser-driven particle sources and advancing the technology toward practical applications.” IEEE Innovation in Societal Infrastructure Award Sponsors: Hitachi, Ltd. and the IEEE Computer Society IEEE Fellow Jaideep Vaidya Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. IEEE Senior Member Lucila Ohno-Machado Yale School of Medicine IEEE Senior Member Xiaoqian Jiang The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston “For leadership in designing and deploying privacy-preserving distributed clinical research infrastructures that enable secure, large-scale collaboration using health data.” IEEE Charles Proteus Steinmetz Award Sponsor: IEEE Standards Association IEEE Life Fellow Mehmet Ulema Manhattan University in New York City (Professor Emeritus) “For leadership in the development and standardization of architecture, management, and protocols used in wireless communications and data networks.” IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award Sponsor: Nokia Bell Labs IEEE Fellow Gerhard Fettweis Technische Universität Dresden Barkhausen Institut in Germany “For contributions to physical-layer communication technology that have had an impact on the global wireless industry.” IEEE Nikola Tesla Award Sponsors: Wolong Electric Group Co. Ltd. and the IEEE Industry Applications and IEEE Power & Energy societies IEEE Life Fellow Pragasen Pillay Concordia University in Montreal “For contributions to the modeling, design, and application of electric machines in industrial, transportation, and renewable energy applications.” IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award Sponsors: The late Dr. Kiyo Tomiyasu and the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing and the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology societies IEEE Fellow Yun Raymond Fu Northeastern University in Boston “For contributions to computer vision and augmented human-machine interaction.” IEEE Transportation Technologies Award Sponsors: IEEE Industry Applications, IEEE Industrial Electronics, IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems, IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology, IEEE Power Electronics, IEEE Power & Energy, and IEEE Vehicular Technology societies IEEE Fellow Chunting Chris Mi San Diego State University “For contributions to advancing electric and hybrid electric vehicle technologies.” IEEE Rao R. Tummala Electronics Packaging Award Sponsors: IEEE Electronics Packaging Society and Friends of Rao R. Tummala IEEE Fellow Ravi Mahajan Intel in Chandler, Ariz. “For contributions to the development of technology that connects multiple chips within advanced electronic packages.” IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award Sponsor: IEEE Education Society IEEE Fellow Rhonda Rene Franklin University of Minnesota in Minneapolis “For leadership in advancing inclusive workforce development initiatives that create clear and accessible career pathways via undergraduate engineering education.” IEEE Lotfi A. Zadeh Award for Emerging Technologies Sponsor: IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society IEEE Life Fellow Peng Shi Adelaide University in Australia “For contributions to artificial intelligence-based methods for robust control and filtering in complex systems.” Nominate a colleague Nominations are now open for the 2028 Technical Field Awards. The deadline to submit a nomination is 15 January. For more information on the awards, please visit the IEEE Awards webpage.