IEEE Awards Booklet - 2009 - 18

I E E E

T E C H N I C A L

F I E L D

AWA R D S

2009 IEEE
Frank Rosenblatt Award

2009 IEEE
Robotics and Automation Award

Sponsored by IEEE Computational
Intelligence Society

Sponsored by IEEE Robotics and
Automation Society

John J. Hopfield

Antal K. Bejczy

For seminal contributions to the understanding of
information processing in biological systems

For leadership and sustained contributions to a broad
set of innovative robotic and automation techniques
applicable to space research and on Earth

John J. Hopfield's research demonstrated how modeling biological
processes in the brain can be used to solve complex computational
problems. The beginning of the modern era of neural networks can
be traced to Dr. Hopfield's pioneering work in the early 1980s.
Relating an understanding of the electrical and cellular activity that
takes place in the brain to computer technology, Dr. Hopfield
described a feedback network of highly interconnected neurons that
could reconstruct memories from clues (associative memory) and
showed how stable states of network activity could represent
memories, emphasizing the importance of computers (and the brain)
as dynamical systems (now known as a "Hopfield Network"). A large
portion of all studies concerning neural circuits are based on Hopfield's
concepts and the use of attractors for computation. Beyond the
benefit to computing technology, Dr. Hopfield's work also serves as a
basic paradigm in neuroscience for understanding how the brain
carries out its tasks. Dr. Hopfield is the Howard Prior Professor of
Molecular Biology, emeritus, at Princeton University, New Jersey.

Antal K. Bejczy has made unique and fundamental contributions to
the understanding and use of robotic human-machine interfaces,
including novel and important enhancing roles of automation.
During his career at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he pioneered the
development of several innovative robot components such "smart
hands" with "smart sensors" and a novel telerobotic system using a
general-purpose force-reflecting hand controller for remote robot
arm control that also serve the medical field. His work also led to the
design of a precise microsurgical system and the development of
the da Vinci surgical robot system by Intuitive Surgical, Inc., which
offers less-invasive procedures. He was principal investigator of a
flight experiment using a force-moment sensor enhanced "hand"
on the space shuttle arm of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1994 and
holds 43 NASA innovation awards. An IEEE Life Fellow, Dr. Bejczy is
retired as a senior research scientist from JPL in 2001.

2009 IEEE
Leon K. Kirchmayer Graduate
Teaching Award

2009 IEEE
Charles Proteus Steinmetz Award
Sponsored by IEEE Standards Association

Sponsored by the Leon K. Kirchmayer
Memorial Fund

James T. Carlo

Roger W. Brockett

For professional leadership in and contributions to
the development of networking standards with global
impact

For inspirational mentoring of generations of graduate
students who have gone on to define the field of
control engineering

As chair of the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee from
1996-2000, chair of ISO/IEC JTC1/SC6 and President of the IEEE
Standards Association, James T. Carlo's leadership and contributions
have benefited the global community by helping enable the information technology revolution. Dr. Carlo's success stems from a
determination to drive technical consensus in a fair, open, honest,
ethical and even-handed approach. During his term, the 802.11 Wi-Fi
and 802.3 Gigabit Internet standards were published, the Bluetooth
specification was brought into the IEEE and the 802.16 activity that
has become the basis for the multibillion-dollar worldwide deployment of WiMAX technology was initiated. Perhaps his greatest
contribution to standardization was his leadership in the development
of the 802.5 standard for token ring LANSs that overcame the interoperability problems of the previous version of the standard. Dr.
Carlo is a coauthor of Understanding Token Ring Protocols and
Standards. An IEEE Fellow, Dr. Carlo is currently the president of J.
Carlo Consulting LLC, Dallas, Texas.

Roger W. Brockett's effectiveness over the last 45 years in preparing
his students for engineering careers can be seen in the records of
the approximately 60 doctoral students and more than a dozen
postdoctoral fellows he has guided, most of who have become researchers, deans and professors at major institutions and have
achieved their own distinctions in control engineering. Dr. Brockett's
advising style is committed to the depth and quality of the research,
critical thinking and originality. Dr. Brockett has been influential in
defining many of the principal research areas in control engineering. His ability to bring together seemingly diverse areas and
applications towards a systematic effort to understand engineering
from fundamentals has transformed the field of systems and control
engineering. A Life Fellow of the IEEE, Dr. Brockett has published
books and papers considered core instructional materials for control
engineering curricula worldwide. Dr. Brockett is currently the An
Wang Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Awards Booklet - 2009