IEEE Awards Booklet - 2011 - 2

L E T T E R

F R O M

T H E

I E E E

P R E S I D E N T

A N D

AWA R D S

B O A R D

C H A I R

Dear IEEE Members,
Distinguished Colleagues, and Friends,
At this year's IEEE Honors Ceremony, we gather under the theme "The Power of Persistence"
to honor and applaud some of the brightest and most successful members of our community.
The Ceremony's theme, emphasizing persistence, is in some discord with the way scientific and
technical breakthroughs are often described in popular media. Often such breakthroughs are
portrayed as isolated bursts of creativity and innovation, reflecting momentary inspiration or
mysterious flashes of luck. Yet, while sparks of creativity do occur, and some great discoveries
and inventions can perhaps be attributed to them, the reality is that progress is more often
the result of a much more complicated and laborious process. This process involves the gradual building of experimental and theoretical foundations; contributions from many observers,
experimenters and scholars; and long debates on hypotheses and causations. When a new
invention finally emerges from this process, bright and fresh, it often appears self evident - even
obvious. It seldom is.
The path that led to discoveries such as the ones we honor in 2011 is frequently quite complicated. Progress happens from time to time, but so do dead ends, wrong directions and negative
results. Moreover, the individuals who are representing the spectacular achievements we celebrate often drew on previous studies and truly "stand on the shoulders of giants." They are
brilliant thinkers and original inventors in their own right - but they also had the benefit of earlier
studies, guidance by teachers and mentors, institutional support, students, colleagues, and collaborators.
We celebrate all of them, as well as the nominators and benefactors of the medals and
awards - the generous donors who recognized the importance of acknowledging properly
the intellect and gifts of the leaders of our profession. They all play an important part in
making the IEEE Awards Program one of the highest forms of recognition in our community.
We hope that highlighting the accomplishments of the 2011 recipients will inspire all of
us - especially younger professionals - to re-dedicate ourselves to the profession, and to
recognize how large the potential still is to use our education, talents and experience to
advance technology for humanity.
Moshe Kam
IEEE President and CEO
Bruce Wooley
IEEE Awards Board Chair

www.ieee.org/awards
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http://www.ieee.org/awards

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Awards Booklet - 2011