award

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of 126 outstanding U.S. and Canadian researchers as recipients of the 2016 Sloan Research Fellowships. Awarded annually since 1955, the fellowships honor early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars, the next generation of scientific leaders.

"Getting early-career support can be a make-or-break moment for a young scholar," said Paul L. Joskow, President of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. "In an increasingly competitive academic environment, it can be difficult to stand out, even when your work is first rate. The Sloan Research Fellowships have become an unmistakable marker of quality among researchers. Fellows represent the best-of-the-best among young scientists."

Awarded in eight scientific and technical fields—chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics—the Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded in close coordination with the scientific community. Candidates must be nominated by their fellow scientists and winning fellows are selected by an independent panel of senior scholars on the basis of a candidate's independent research accomplishments, creativity, and potential to become a leader in his or her field.

Congratulations to Jonathan for this outstanding achievement!

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic, not-for-profit grant making institution based in New York City. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-President and Chief Executive Officer of the General Motors Corporation, the Foundation makes grants in support of original research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics. www.sloan.org

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Press Release

Abbas El Gamal is the Hitachi America Professor in the School of Engineering and the Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering. He has been awarded the 2016 IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal. The award's citation reads, "for contributions to network multi-user information theory and for wide ranging impact on programmable circuit architectures."

IEEE Medals are the highest awards that the IEEE presents on behalf of the IEEE Board of Directors. The IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal recognizes exceptional contributions to information sciences, systems, and technology. Established in 1986, the medal is named in honor of Dr. Richard W. Hamming, who had a central role in the development of computer and computing science, and whose many significant contributions in the area of information science include his error-correcting codes.

Professor El Gamal is a Life Fellow of IEEE and recipient of the Shannon Award (2012).

Read more about the IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal.

Professor Jelena Vuckovic has been elected as a 2016 Optical Society of America (OSA) Fellow Member. Fellows of the Optical Society are elected based on their significant contributions to the advancement of optics and photonics. Several factors are considered for election, including specific scientific, engineering, and technological contributions, a record of significant publications or patents related to optics, technical or industry leadership in the field as well as service to OSA and the global optics community. 

The OSA Fellow Members Committee reviews nominations submitted by current OSA Fellows and then recommends candidates to the OSA Board of Directors. No more than 10 percent of the total OSA membership may be chosen as Fellows, making the process both highly selective and competitive. As a reflection of the Optical Society's global reach, 60 percent of this year's Fellows reside outside the United States.

Professor Vuckovic's citation reads, "for field opening contributions to the science and engineering of photonic crystals, and in particular, for the use of 2D microcavites for the Purcell-like enhancement of the spontaneous emission rate of embedded quantum dots."

The 2016 class of Fellows will be honored at OSA conferences and meetings throughout 2016. 

Read OSA news release.

Professor Jelena Vuckovic was elected as an American Physical Society (APS) Fellow by the APS Council in October. The election is based on exceptional contributions to the physics enterprise.

Professor Vuckovic's research areas include nanotechnology and NEMS/MEMS, energy harvesting and conversion, photonics, nanoscience and quantum technology, as well as biomedical devices and systems. She leads the Nanoscale and Quantum Physics Lab, and is a faculty member of the Ginzton Lab, Bio-X, and the Pulse Institute.

Her citation reads, "For major and field opening contributions to nano photonics and its application to information science; including the design and fabrication of 2D photonic crystals with integrated quantum dot structures."

Two groups were awarded the 2015 NEC C&C Foundation Awards for their contributions to the development of big data technologies and network virtualization technologies.

Professor Nick McKeown, Dr. Martin Casado (PhD, '07) and Scott Shenker (Berkeley) are the originators of the Software-defined networking (SDN) movement, and OpenFlow protocol which was created as an interface to program the communication devices.

The NEC C&C citation reads, "For Pioneering Research in Advancing Networking Technology and Outstanding Contributions Promoting the Development of Software-Defined Networking".

They have combined their various talents and taken leadership roles in developing technologies for SDN and OpenFlow. The team developed various open-source platforms and tools. In addition, by involving academia, device vendors, telecommunications carriers, and service providers in research at an early stage, they have been able to cultivate and operate eco-systems that have led to widespread practical application of the SDN concepts. They also promoted the development and adoption of SDN by leading the standardization movement and encouraging the open-source community. Their achievements as ICT infrastructure innovators are highly remarkable.

The prize ceremony and acceptance speeches will be held on Monday, December 21 from 15:00 at the ANA InterContinental Tokyo.

Excerpts from the NEC C&C press release.

Read EE Spotlight, featuring Professor Nick McKeown

Professor Lambertus Hesselink and Assistant Professor Juan Rivas-Davila are two of eight Stanford faculty seed grant recipients. The awards are to assist in new research that promises clean technology and energy efficiency.

Assistant Professor Juan Rivas' and his research team will continue exploration of more energy-efficient power supplies. An initial goal is to provide energy-efficient methods to pasteurize liquids like milk and fruit juice. The team's long-range goal is to revolutionize the design and manufacture of power electronics components. The Precourt Institute for Energy awarded Rivas-Davila's grant.

Professor Lambertus Hesselink's research will assess and design a method to capture heat waste from computers. His team projects that at least 20% of the waste could be recouped, saving $6 million in electricity per day in the U.S. alone. The Precourt Energy Efficiency Center (PEEC) provided this award.

Read the full Stanford report article.