2020 IEEE-USA Awards Honor Outstanding Contributions in Trying Times

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Jan 27, 2021, 16:17 ET

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IEEE-USA is thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2020 IEEE-USA Awards. The awardees were chosen to receive IEEE-USA's highest honors, in recognition of their professionalism, technical achievement, and literary contributions to the engineering profession in the United States.

"IEEE volunteers found ways to help others thrive in a difficult year," said Brendan Godfrey, 2020 IEEE-USA Vice President of Communications. "They rose to meet the challenges of 2020 and we are truly proud of the innovative ways they contributed to IEEE-USA's mission."

IEEE-USA Awards logo

The difficult task of deciding among the many worthy candidates each year falls to the IEEE-USA Awards and Recognitions Committee, led in 2020 by committee chair Susan Gilmore.

"There are so many whose great work in our community deserves to be honored," said Gilmore. "While we have to choose just a few to receive these awards, I want to thank all of the nominators for recognizing their fellow members."

The full list of award recipients is as follows:

IEEE-USA Award for Distinguished Public Service

Andrei Iancu
For his outstanding work updating patent regulations benefiting IEEE's U.S. members by clarifying and strengthening intellectual property protection and reducing administrative hurtles.

The IEEE-USA John Meredith Professional Service Award

Christopher Sanderson
For exceptional leadership and creation of programming for the professional development of IEEE's U.S. members.

IEEE-USA Harry Diamond Memorial Award

John Tague
For exceptional leadership and achievements in research and development for the U.S. Navy's technology enterprise

George F. McClure Citation of Honor

Michael Andrews
For leadership promoting engineering professionalism and IEEE member engagement to students and young professionals through the development of the Rising Stars conference and numerous educational initiatives.

Zafar Taqvi
For enduring dedication in promoting professional activities—through contributions to member engagement; for inspiring and mentoring members; and for increasing IEEE visibility in industry.

IEEE-USA Entrepreneur Achievement Award for Leadership in Entrepreneurial Spirit

Azad Madni
For excellence in entrepreneurship over a lifetime of innovation, mentorship, and philanthropy

IEEE-USA Jim Watson Student Professional Awareness Achievement Award

Shilpita Biswas
For sustained leadership increasing IEEE's visibility with industry, growing student membership, and organizing professional development events.

IEEE-USA K-12 STEM Literacy Educator-Engineer Partnership Award

Stuart Wecker & Christine Busch
For building a highly successful, sustained partnership between the Tempe school district and IEEE volunteers to provide hands-on STEM workshops.

Award for Distinguished Literary Contributions Furthering Public Understanding and the Advancement of the Engineering Profession

Karen Panetta
For co-authorship of the book, "Count Girls In", which serves as an inspiration for youth to pursue technology careers, and for lifelong commitment to STEM Literacy

Board Special Citation

Mark Soffa, Kai A. Flowers, and James Joseph Talley Montgomery
For creation and implementation of an innovative STEM education model during COVID-19 restrictions.

IEEE-USA Robert S. Walleigh Award for Distinguished Contributions to Engineering Professionalism

No recipient

To learn more about the IEEE-USA Awards or to see past recipients, visit ieeeusa.org/volunteers/awards-recognition/. Nominations for the 2021 awards open on 1 April 2021.

About IEEE-USA:
IEEE-USA serves the public good and promotes the careers and public policy interests of 170,000 engineering, computing and technology professionals who are U.S. members of IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization.

Visit us online at ieeeusa.org, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube channel and check us out on LinkedIn.

SOURCE IEEE-USA