2019 Award Recipients

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2019 AWARD RECIPIENTS

Introduction: We are happy to report the 2019 recipients of MTT-S Society Awards. In doing so, it is important to acknowledge the efforts and care of those in the selection process, and the impressive quality of all candidates who were brought forward for consideration. In 2019, our recipients are being recognized for significant contributions during a career, or within a particular discipline, or for important past contributions; in particular:

  • Our career award recipient, whose insight into the need for accurate modeling of planar structures defined his PhD work, then shifting to a career of reducing innovation to practice, while growing a successful business model for the product and company we know today as Sonnet Software, which is now highly regarded source of 3D EM modeling designers worldwide.
  • Pioneer and Application recipients, who have transferred their knowledge and focus to toolsets and references that are embraced and used by our technical community for the benefit of humanity.
  • Four outstanding young engineers whose contributions this year include new techniques in microwave filter topologies, low power microwave sensors that monitor the quality of life, industrial leadership for the development of millimeter-wave ICs and applications, and packaging and device characterization.
  • Our service awards, which continue to recognize outstanding volunteers who serve not only their employers but also the mission and vision of our Society and IEEE.
  • Our distinguished educator, joining those who continuously develop new methods of imparting knowledge to their students while improving the relevance of their institution through research.

All recipients share a common thread of persistence, energy, and innovation.

These Awards will be presented at the MTT-S Awards Banquet on Wed June 5th, in Boston MA.

MTT-S Best Paper Awards will be reported in December

To receive nomination forms for 2020 MTT-Society Awards please visit our online Awards Section at https://www.mtt.org.

Note: the Awards nomination process for 2020 will be open on Jan 1, 2020 Questions? mttsawardschair@ieee.org

MTT-S Award

2019 Award Recipient and Description

MTT-S Microwave Career Award

Recognizes a career of meritorious achievement and outstanding technical contribution by an individual in the field of microwave theory and techniques.

James C. Rautio (S’77, M’78, SM’91, F’00) … for a Career of Leadership, Meritorious Achievement, Creativity and Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Microwave Theory and Techniques.

James C. Rautio received the B.S.E.E. degree from Cornell University in 1978, the M.S. degree in systems engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1982, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Syracuse University, in 1986.

From 1978 to 1986, he was with General Electric, initially with the Valley Forge Space Division, then with the Syracuse Electronics Laboratory. During this time, he developed microwave design and measurement software and designed microwave circuits on alumina and on GaAs. From 1986 to 1988, he was a Visiting Professor with Syracuse University and Cornell University. In 1988, he joined Sonnet Software, Liverpool, NY, full time, a company he had founded in 1983. In 1995, Sonnet Software was listed on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing privately held U.S. companies, the first microwave software company ever to be so listed. Today, Sonnet Software is the leading vendor of high accuracy three-dimensional planar high-frequency electromagnetic analysis software.

Dr. Rautio was the recipient of the 2001 IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (IEEE MTT-S) Microwave Application Award and the 2014 IEEE MTT Distinguished Service Award. He was appointed MTT Distinguished Microwave Lecturer for 2005 – 2007 lecturing on the life of James Clerk Maxwell. His efforts have also resulted in the preservation and restoration of Maxwell’s home, and he is a Trustee of The Maxwell at Glenlair Trust.

MTT-S Distinguished Service Award

Recognizes an individual who has given outstanding service for the benefit and advancement of the MTT Society.

Wayne A. Shiroma (S’85, M’87, SM’08) … in Recognition of a Distinguished Record of Service to the IEEE MTT Society and the Microwave Profession over a Sustained Period of Time.

Wayne Shiroma received a B.S. Electrical Engineering, Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa in 1986, M.Eng. Electrical Engineering, Cornell Univ. in 1987, and Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, Univ. of Colorado at Boulder in 1996.

He was Member of the Technical Staff (1987-1989, 1991-1992) at Hughes Space and Communications. He joined University of Hawaii at Manoa, Dept. of Electrical Engineering in 1996: Assistant Professor (1996-2001); Associate Professor (2001-2008), Professor (2008-present), Chair (2013- present), Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory: Co-Director (2007-2012).

Wayne’s service contributions to the Society are varied over a period of 17 years including Secretary (2001), Assistant Treasurer (2002-2011), IMS Executive Committee (Member, 2003-present, Chair 2009, and Vice Chair 2008), IMS Site Negotiation Committee (2012-present), Membership Services Committee Chair (2008), Education Committee (Coordinator, Undergraduate Scholarships 2000-2002). He served 3 terms as AdCom member from 2002-2010. He has chosen an extremely challenging path through his service, including 10 years in finance, and is the first mortal to have chaired two IMS Steering Committees, 2007 and 2017. Each Symposium was a resounding success, far exceeding financial expectations while setting records for paper submissions. Wayne, together with an increasingly large number of students and colleagues, have made Hawaii an important focal point of microwave activity.

Shiroma has received the University of Hawaii Regents Medal for Excellence in Teaching (2003), College of Engineering Hi Chang Chai Excellence in Teaching Award (2002, 2006), Outstanding Faculty Member in Electrical Engineering Award (1998), Faculty Service Award (2013), and the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society N. Walter Cox Award (2009)

MTT-S Distinguished Educator Award

Recognizes a distinguished educator in the field of microwave engineering and science who best exemplifies the special human qualities of Fred Rosenbaum, who considered teaching a high calling and demonstrated his dedication to the Society through tireless service.

Amir Mortazawi (S’87, M’90, SM’95, F’06, LF’09) …for Outstanding Achievements as an Educator, Mentor, and Role Model of Microwave Engineers and Engineering Students

Amir Mortazawi received his Ph.D. at the University of Texas, Austin, and has taught at the University of Central Florida and University of North Carolina, before joining the University of Michigan, where he is currently Professor. He has contributed to the Electromagnetics and Microwaves curriculum at all three universities, developing new courses, introducing relevant laboratory projects and improved CAD tools in his courses. Mortazawi served as the and has been recognized for teaching, service and achievement by his academic peers, and served as Graduate Chair for the EE program at UofM (2005-2008, 2014-2017). He has published more than 200 papers on phased arrays, active and quasi-optical amplifier and oscillator arrays, efficient power amplifiers, frequency agile ferroelectric-based circuits and wireless power transmission.

He has supervised 18 PhDs and more than 20 MS students. Four of his former students are currently professors in Taiwan, China and Turkey; while, many of his PhDs are employed at the prominent private industry and government agencies. Mortazawi (AC8YB) has been the faculty advisor to the Amateur Radio Club, at the University of Michigan, for the past ten years. He has been active in MTT-Society affairs, including service as Chair of MTT Technical Coordinating Committee, MTT-13: Technical Committee on Microwave Control Materials and Devices, and Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques. He is an IEEE Fellow.

MTT-S Microwave Pioneer Award

Recognizes an individual or team, not exceeding three persons, having made outstanding pioneering technical contributions that advance microwave theory and techniques, which are described in an archival paper published at least 20 years prior to the year of the award.

Frederick H. Raab (S’66, M’72, SM’80, F’06, LF’12) …in Recognition of Pioneering Contributions to the Theory, Development, and Practical Use of High Efficiency Power Amplifiers

…and described in

  • F. Raab, “Idealized operation of the class E tuned power amplifier,” IEEE Trans. Circuits and Systems, Vol.24, No. 12, pp. 725-735, December 1977.
  • Frederick H. Raab, “Efficiency of Doherty RF Power-Amplifier Systems,” IEEE Trans. Broadcasting, Volume: BC-33, No.3, pp. 77-83, Sept. 1987.
  • F. H. Raab, “Pulse-Width Modulation,” IEEE Trans. On Communications, Volume CO-21, No. 8, pp. 958–966, Sept. 1973.

Frederick H. Raab is Chief Engineer and Owner of Green Mountain Radio Research, a consulting firm which he founded in 1980. He received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Iowa State University in 1968, 1970, and 1972. He received the I.S.U. Professional Achievement Citation in Engineering in 1995 and was elected IEEE Fellow in 2006. The textbook Solid State Radio Engineering, coauthored by Dr. Raab, is widely used by both academics and practicing engineers. Raab’s professional achievements include publication of over 100 technical papers and award of twelve patents. Professional leadership includes serving as technical program chairman for RF Expo East ’90 and founding technical committee MTT-17 that expanded the IEEE MTT Society to include HF/VHF/UHF engineers. He is a member of IEEE, HKN, Sigma Xi, AOC, RCA, and ARRL. “Fritz” is an extra-class amateur-radio operator W1FR, licensed since 1961, and coordinator of the ARRL 500-kHz experiment.

MTT-S Microwave Application Award

Recognizes an individual or team of no more than five individuals for an outstanding application of microwave theory and techniques, which has been reduced to practice nominally 10 years before the award.

Martin Vossiek (M’96, SM’05, F’16) Professor and Chair of the Institute of Microwaves and Photonics at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg … for original and innovative research in wireless local positioning systems and for fostering the translating of these innovations into successful business in industrial automation and logistics

Martin Vossiek received the Dipl.-Ing. degree and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Ruhr-University Bochum, in 1991 and 1996. In 1996 he joined the microwave and surface acoustic wave research group of Siemens, Munich, Germany, and from 2000 to 2003 he led the microwave systems group of Siemens Corporate Technology and was responsible for product developments in commercial microwave sensor and communication systems. In 2003 he joined Clausthal University of Technology as Professor and Director of the Institute of Electrical Information Technology. Since 2011 he has chaired the Institute of Microwaves and Photonics (IHFT) at Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU).

He has authored or co-authored more than 150 refereed papers and his research has been granted 90 patents, and has been acknowledged by several international awards.

Martin Vossiek is an IEEE Fellow and a member of the executive board of the IEEE German MTT/AP Chapter. He was the founding chair of the IEEE technical committee MTT-27 “Wireless-Enabled Automotive and Vehicular Applications”, and is also a member of TC MTT-16. He participates in VDE/ITG High-Frequency Technology specialist divisions 7.2 “Radio Communication”, 7.3 “Microwave Technology” and 7.4 “Localization”, and also served as Associate Editor of T-MTT from 2013-2015; he is a member of the editorial board of the journal FREQUENZ and he has served on the review boards of five IEEE technical journals.

MTT-S Outstanding Young Engineer Award

Recognizes an outstanding young MTT-S member who has distinguished him/herself through achievement(s), which may be technical (within the MTT-S Field of Interest), may be exemplary service to the MTT-S, or may be a combination of both.

Vadim Issakov (S’06, GSM’07, SM’16), Infineon Technologies AG (Industry) … for outstanding early career contributions in the field of microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits and measurement.

Harish Krishnaswamy (S’03, M’09), Columbia University (Academia) …for outstanding early career leadership and contributions in the field of millimeter-wave packaging and passive device characterization.

Jeffrey Nanzer (S’02. GSM’05, M’08, SM’14), Michigan State University (Industry) … for outstanding early career contributions in distributed phased arrays and mm-wave photonic wireless systems.

Etienne Perret (S’02, M’06, SM’13), Grenoble Institute of Technology (Academia) …for outstanding early career contributions to chipless RF identification of objects in an unknown environment.

MTT-S N.W. Cox Award

Recognizes an individual who has given exemplary service to the Society in a spirit of selfless dedication and cooperation. The award is given in memory of N. Walter Cox, longstanding MTT-S volunteer.

Rhonda Franklin (S’85, M’90, SM’14), Professor, Dept of ECE, University of Minnesota, …for exemplary service to the Society in a spirit of selfless dedication and cooperation.

Prof. Franklin has served as a member of the MTT-S Education Committee, Associate Editor of MCWL, and IMS TPRC (2001- present). In addition to her technical service, in 2014, she co-founded IMS Project Connect, with Profs. Thomas Weller and Rashaunda Henderson, to facilitate student professional development during the IMS conference by engaging student in exercises to develop communications and networking skills, learn about workplace expectations, discover opportunities for microwave engineering careers while meeting industry leaders and microwave engineers in the field – using IMS week as a test bed. The students, in turn, develop a short video that conveys what the conference experience meant to them, called “IMS through their eyes.” This innovative approach to immersing students in a learning experience within a conference setting continues her approach to mentoring and teaching future leaders by inspiration. Funding for student travel to participate in this program has been secured by Dr. Franklin for 2018 and 2018 through a grant from NSF.

Prof. Franklin’s service in teaching have been recognized by the University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Minnesota, the NAE, and NSF.