IEEE Awards Booklet - 2019 - 10

2019 Ieee medAls

IEEE President's Award

IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr.
Education Medal

Sponsored by IEEE

Sponsored by MathWorks, Pearson,
and the IEEE Life Members Fund

PHOTO CREDIT: KATHERINE
JOHNSON, PHOTOGRAPHED
FOR VANITY FAIR AT FORT
MONROE, IN HAMPTON, VIRGINIA. PHOTOGRAPH BY ANNIE LEIBOVITZ.

Katherine G. Johnson

John G. Webster

For fundamental computational contributions to the success of America's first and
subsequent manned spaceflights, including Apollo 11

For excellence in classroom teaching as well
as the production of numerous reference
texts that have fostered the development of
biomedical engineering as a discipline

Katherine G. Johnson is a mathematician whose calculations of
orbital mechanics as a U.S National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) employee were critical to the success of the
first and subsequent U.S. manned spaceflights. From 1953 to 1958,
Johnson worked as a "computer," analyzing topics such as gust
alleviation for aircraft. From 1958 until her retirement in 1986,
Johnson worked as an aerospace technologist, moving during her
career to NASA's Spacecraft Controls Branch. Her work included
calculating trajectories, launch windows, and emergency return
paths for Project Mercury spaceflights, including the 5 May 1961
spaceflight of astronauts Alan Shepard, the first American in space,
and John Glenn, the first American in orbit. Johnson also helped
to calculate the trajectory for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the
Moon. Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of
NASA's Space Shuttle Program.
Fifty years of history is approaching. Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two people on the Moon. Mission
commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the
lunar module Eagle on 20 July 1969. As IEEE prepares to celebrate this historic moment, recognizing Katherine G. Johnson for
her work on this mission and her other notable accomplishments
gives great reason to honor her with the IEEE President's Award
during this special year.
Johnson received the 2015 U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom,
America's highest civilian honor, for her contributions to space
exploration. In 2017, a NASA facility was renamed in her honor.
Johnson is retired and lives in Hampton,VA, USA.

An innovative instructor and prolific producer of textbooks and
education materials that have helped shape the field of biomedical engineering, John G. Webster has inspired his students not
only to make extraordinary contributions in the field of biomedical engineering but also to contribute to the overall betterment of society.The author and editor of 25 textbooks, his Medical Instrumentation: Application and Design (Wiley and Sons) is now
in its fifth edition and is the most widely used text in biomedical
engineering. Webster wrote this book in 1978 when biomedical engineering programs were in their infancy, and it helped to
define emerging undergraduate programs in bioengineering. He
has produced textbooks and reference books on a multitude of
topics, including the enormous 24-volume Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (Wiley and Sons). In the classroom,
Webster introduced a strong design component in his courses.
He volunteered to supervise and improve the required labs, then
wrote educational papers to diﬀuse this information. His strength
in teaching results from his belief that teachers should be managers of a learning system and should observe not only the teaching
but also the learning that takes place. His philosophy has been to
tell students exactly what is expected of them (instructional objectives), set up an experiential learning system to best assist them
in learning those objectives (guided design), and provide them
with opportunities to learn lasting skills (critical thinking, clear
expression, and cooperation) that will assist them throughout
their careers. He started experimenting over 30 years ago with
techniques that are now popularly called "flipped" or "blended
learning" classrooms. Outside the classroom, Webster's most recent research activities include a sleep apnea therapy device with
no added pressure, which he hopes to develop since sleep apnea
aﬀects 10% of the population, but half of those aﬀected reject
continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines because
the added pressure from these devices is so uncomfortable.
An IEEE Life Fellow and recipient of the IEEE Third Millennium Medal (2000), Webster is a Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin‒Madison,
Madison, WI, USA.

Scope: Given to individuals, not necessarily members of IEEE,
whose careers have exhibited distinguished leadership and contributions to the public.

Scope: For a career of outstanding contributions to education in
the fields of interest of IEEE.

10 | 2019 IEEE awards bookLET

IEEE Awards Booklet - 2019

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