Eleanor Baum, an IEEE Fellow, was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, in Seneca Falls, N.Y. She was recognized for her efforts to encourage women and minorities to pursue careers in engineering.

Baum, dean of engineering of the Albert Nerken School of Engineering at The Cooper Union, in New York City, serves on the board of directors of Avnet Inc., a computer products distributor headquartered in Phoenix, and on the board of the United States Trust Company, New York City. She also serves on the advisory boards of several universities.

She was named the first female dean of engineering in the United States in 1984, at Pratt Institute in New York City, and in 1995, she was elected the first female president of the American Society for Engineering Education.

Baum received her bachelor’s  degree in electrical engineering in 1959 from The City College of New York. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, now Polytechnic Institute of New York, in New York City, in 1961 and 1964, respectively.

The American Society for Engineering Education presented IEEE Life Fellow Roland Haden with its Benjamin Garver Lamme Award, which recognizes excellence in teaching and contributions to research and technical literature.

Haden is dean emeritus of Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University, in College Station. He is a Fellow of the ASEE and a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Arlington State College, now the University of Texas at Arlington. He went on to earn a master’s degree from CalTech and doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin, both in electrical engineering.

Several IEEE members and Fellows were presented with National Medals of Technology or Science—the highest honors awarded for technological or scientific innovation by the president of the United States. President George W. Bush presented the awards on 27 July at the White House.

Four Fellows received 2006 Medals of Technology.

Life Fellow Leslie A. Geddes received his award for contributions to electrode design and tissue restoration, which has formed the cornerstone for many modern implantable medical devices. He is a professor emeritus of bioengineering at Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind.

Geddes received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from McGill University, in Montreal. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in physiology from the Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston.

Fellow Paul G. Kaminski was cited for contributions to U.S. national security because of his work with lasers, optoelectronics, integrated optics, and light-wave communication systems. He is the chief executive of Technovation Inc., a consulting company in Pittsburgh that assists with the development and application of advanced technology.

Kaminski received his bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Air Force Academy, in Colorado. He earned a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics and another master’s degree in electrical engineering, both from MIT. He went on to receive his Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University.

Life Fellow Herwig W. Kogelnik was recognized for pioneering contributions and leadership in the development of lasers, optoelectronics, integrated optics, and light-wave communication systems that have helped to drive the growth of fiber-optic transmission systems. During a 46-year career at Bell Labs in Holmdel, N.J., he co-invented the distributed feedback laser and led a research team that developed the dense wave division multiplexing optical system.

Kogelnik received his Diploma in Engineering and Doctorate of Technology degrees from the Vienna Institute of Technology in 1955 and 1958, respectively.

James E. West, another IEEE Life Fellow, received the medal for co-inventing the electret microphone in 1962. Ninety percent of the microphones used in devices such as telephones, hearing aids, camcorders, and multimedia computers use the electret.

West co-invented the microphone during his 40-year career at the acoustics research department at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, N.J. He is now a research professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1957 from Temple University, in Philadelphia.

The 2005 U.S. National Medals of Technology or Science were also presented at the ceremony, to Member Jan D. Achenbach and Fellow Alfred Y. Cho.

Achenbach, a professor in the civil and environmental engineering department at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., received a National Medal of Science for contributions to engineering research and education in the area of wave propagation in solids and for being a pioneer in the field of quantitative non-destructive evaluation.

Achenbach received a degree in aeronautical engineering in 1959 from the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. He received his Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics in 1962 from Stanford University.

Cho was recognized with a National Medal of Technology for contributions to the invention of molecular beam epitaxy. The technology has been applied to the manufacture of many semiconductor devices, including RF switches; front-end and power amplifiers in cellular phones; and the semiconductor lasers used in compact disc players and CD-ROM drives. Cho is an adjunct vice president of semiconductor research at Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs in Murray Hill, N.J.

He holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, all in electrical engineering, from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

In September, Fellow Kristina Johnson became the first female provost at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore.

Johnson is an electrical engineer and the cofounder of several start-up companies. She holds 40 patents and has published more than 140 journal articles. She is best known for her pioneering research of smart pixel arrays, which are used in displays, pattern recognition, and high-resolution sensors in cameras. In 2003 Johnson was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame, established in 1996 to honor women for their contributions to science and technology.

Johnson received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 1981 and her doctorate in 1985, all in electrical engineering, from Stanford University.

The Computer Research Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research awarded Member Li-Shiuan Peh its 2007 Anita Borg Early Career Award. The annual award is given to a female computer scientist or engineer, usually within the first 10 years of her career, who is committed to increasing women’s participation in the field of computer research.

Peh is an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Princeton University. In 2003 she became co-advisor of Princeton Graduate Women in Science and Engineering, which organizes events meant to attract women to pursue the professions. Her research focuses on the performance and power consumption of interconnection networks.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the National University of Singapore, in Kent Ridge. She went on to earn a Ph.D., also in computer science, in 2001 from Princeton University.

Member Ronald L. Rivest has been named 2007 Marconi Fellow and recipient of the Marconi Prize. He was cited for his pioneering work in cryptography, and computer and network security.

The Marconi Society, created in 1975 to honor Guglielmo Marconi, awards the annual $100 000 prize to a scientist for pioneering achievements in wireless technology.

Rivest helped develop public-key cryptography, a technology that allows users to communicate securely over an insecure channel without having to agree upon a secret key beforehand. It enables secure communication via e-mail, Web browsers, cellphones, and other applications.

He is a professor of computer science at MIT, and a leader of the Cryptology and Information Security research group within MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Rivest earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Yale University and a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University in 1969 and 1974, respectively.

Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, named Senior Member Thomas E. Wade this year’s National Outstanding Advisor. He was cited for his “strong personal commitment to Tau Beta Pi, his enduring direct involvement with his chapter, and his ability to empower students under his caring, patient leadership.”

The society plans to present him with US $1000 and a commemorative plaque in October at its annual national convention in Dearborn, Mich.

Wade has been a faculty advisor to Tau Beta Pi chapters for almost 31 years. He is chief advisor to the Florida Gamma chapter and a professor of electrical engineering at the University of South Florida, in Tampa. Wade’s research interests include solid-state microelectronics and VLSI multilevel interconnection systems.

He received bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, all in electrical engineering, from the University of Florida, in Gainesville, in 1966, 1969, and 1974.