| Longtime
NPSS member Dr. Carl E. Baum is a major award winner! Carl was honored
last summer in Hawaii with one of IEEE highest prizes, the IEEE
Electromagnetics Award.
Carl Baum is presently a Distinguished Research Professor at the
University of New Mexico. Carl, an IEEE Fellow, is an active NPSS
supporter and is widely credited with starting the IEEE Chapter
in Albuquerque. He spent his 40-year career at the Air Force Research
Laboratory working on the utilization of high power electromagnetics.
He was honored last year with the Antennas and Propagation Society’s
Krauss Award for his contributions to high power, transient antennas.
Congratulations, Carl!
Within NPSS, there are many talented and accomplished members, yet
the Awards committee often has to solicit for nominations. Carl’s
award prompted me to consider the value of recognition of accomplishment.
The acknowledgment of professional achievement by peers is very
special tribute and needs to be done more often. We all know some
fantastic individuals who don’t have the accolades they deserve.
IEEE has two distinct, but not mutually exclusive ways to honor
individuals: awards and IEEE membership elevation.
Many different organizations offer various awards, but few carry
the worldwide prestige of an IEEE award. For nearly a century, IEEE
Awards have paid tribute to technical professionals whose exceptional
achievements and outstanding contributions have made a lasting impact
on technology, society and the engineering profession. There are
various types of IEEE sanctioned awards. Some are given by the IEEE
Board of Directors, others by the Society and within NPSS, others
by our Technical Committees.
The highest level of IEEE awards are categorized as Medals and Technical
Field Awards. Carl Baum’s Electromagnetics Award is a Technical
Field Award, jointly sponsored by the Electromagnetic Compatibility
and the Microwave Theory and Techniques Societies. Information regarding
these IEEE awards can be found at the Awards page, www.ieee.org/portal/
pages/about/awards/. I urge you to browse this page since each award
has a unique mission and criteria. There are awards to honor distinguished
colleagues, teachers and corporate leaders. Additional awards are
sponsored by IEEE-USA which has links available from the IEEE website.
The Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society also offers IEEE Awards.
These awards are: the NPSS Early Achievement Award, the NPSS Graduate
Scholarship Award, the Paul Phelps Continuing Education Grant, the
NPSS Merit Award and the Richard Shea Distinguished Member Award.
Brief biographies of many of the recent awardees can be found in
this issue and the March 2008 issue of the NPSS Newsletter. Information
about these society awards can be found on our website and additional
information and assistance can be had by contacting NPSS Past President
and Chair of the NPSS Awards Committee, Peter Winokur, at p.winokur@ieee.org.
As you know, the NPSS is comprised of 8 Technical Committees. Each
Technical Committee organizes at least one conference. Many of our
conferences also have awards. The criteria for these awards are
determined by the Technical Committee and AdCom, and endorsed by
IEEE. Information regarding these awards can typically be found
on the sponsoring conference web-site or by contacting the Technical
Committee Chair. Contact information is on the NPSS web-site.
Professional recognition is also gained by nomination for elevation
of IEEE membership grade. IEEE has two elevations of membership:
Senior Member and Fellow. The elevation to Senior Member requires
experience reflecting professional maturity. Nominations information
and the electronic application can be found on the IEEE web-site
(www.ieee.org/web/membership/). A nominator and two references from
the IEEE Senior Member or Fellow grades are required.
A Senior Member may be elevated to the Fellow grade by petition
to the IEEE Board of Directors. The Fellow Grade recognizes unusual
distinction in the profession. The total number of Fellows recommended
per year is limited to one-tenth of one percent of the voting membership
on record. The candidate can come from any field in academia, government
or industry. The Fellow application has categories which include
Researcher, Educator, Technical Leader or the recent addition, Application
Engineer/Practitioner. The deadline for submitting IEEE Fellow applications
for the Fellow Class of 2009 is March 1, 2008. It is not too early
to start!
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but recognition
by one’s peers goes down a lot easier! There are many worthy
award recipients waiting for a nominator. Nominate a worthy colleague
today!
Jane Lehr, IEEE NPSS President, can be reached at Sandia National
Laboratories, MS1152, PO Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185-1193; Phone:
+1 505 844 8554; E-mail: jmlehr@sandia.gov.
|
