2006 Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal

The Hitachi America Professor of Engineering, Emeritus, at Stanford University, Thomas Kailath is a respected leader in digital signal processing and system theory. A prolific researcher, his work has influenced two generations of electrical engineers and applied mathematicians, several of whom he has personally trained and mentored.

More than 40 years ago, Dr. Kailath recognized that engineering theory would play a critical role in meeting technological challenges in the disciplines of communication, computation, control and signal processing. Since then, his theoretical work has led to fundamental breakthroughs in communications, information theory, signal detection and estimation, sensor array signal processing, VLSI architectures for signal processing, and semiconductor manufacturing. He has written widely acclaimed books and papers in those fields as well as in probability and statistics, linear algebra, and matrix and operator theory. Specific signal processing contributions include algorithms for feedback communications, universal estimator-correlator detector structures for random signals in noise, and the concept of displacement structure leading to fast algorithms in many fields. Much of his early work outpaced what could be implemented at the time; as technology advanced, Dr. Kailath and his students were able to successfully address industrial issues in areas such as optical lithography and multiple antenna wireless communications.

An IEEE Life Fellow, he is a past president of the IEEE Information Theory Society and a recipient of its Shannon Award. Other honors include an IEEE Education Medal, Guggenheim and Churchill fellowships, and election to the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Academy of Engineering and the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame.