IEEE Awards Booklet - 2017 - 9

2017 IEEE MEDALS

IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr.
Education Medal

IEEE Simon Ramo Medal
Sponsored by Northrop Grumman Corporation

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

John S. Baras

Stephen P. Boyd

For exceptional contributions to the conception and commercialization of internetover-satellite systems, and for leadership
in model-based engineering, systems
science, and engineering research

For inspirational education of students and
researchers in the theory and application
of optimization

Recognized worldwide as a visionary leader of systems engineering, John S. Baras' development, commercialization, and advancement of Internet-over-satellite (IoS) systems created a new industry
that is bringing fast Internet services to tens of millions of people
who may otherwise not have access. During the 1990s, the commercial use of satellites was limited to broadcast television applications. However, Baras envisioned a system in which direct
broadcast satellites could utilize small satellite dishes to deliver
Internet service and customers could send information to the
Internet using ordinary telephone modems. The result was the
first-ever fast asymmetric IoS system. While it was believed that
IoS would never be a viable product, Baras provided the technical
breakthrough of modifying transmission control protocol (TCP)
to overcome its natural failure in the presence of physical delay by
incorporating connection splitting, address spoofing, and selective acknowledgement to inform the TCP protocol that a delay
in receiving a request at the receiver end was due to the satellite's
physical path delay and not congestion. Working with Hughes
Network Systems, Baras commercialized IoS to provide inexpensive high-speed Internet connectivity even to rural and undeveloped areas, and it has greatly impacted applications including
telemedicine, disaster relief, and ship communications. Baras also
provided innovations for secure operation of IoS, such as layered
encryption security, which has become an international standard.
As founding director of the University of Maryland's Institute for
Systems Research (ISR), Baras has championed the development
of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) with a foundational
framework that has been successfully applied to industrial applications. He has demonstrated MBSE methodologies to be essential
for addressing challenges in software-intensive systems; modular
product development in the automotive, aerospace, and energy
industries; cyber-physical systems; and smart manufacturing.
An IEEE Life Fellow and fellow of the U.S. National Academy
of Inventors, Baras is a professor at the University of Maryland,
College Park, MD, USA.

Stephen P. Boyd has revolutionized the field of optimization as an
essential core of many engineering disciplines through immensely
popular courses, foundational textbooks, and open-source software tools.Teaching some of the largest graduate courses at Stanford University, Boyd's classes target a wide range of engineers
and scientists and have introduced thousands of students to convex optimization techniques. His graduate course on Introduction to Convex Optimization with Engineering Applications
evolved into the Convex Optimization I/II courses, which attract
over 300 students representing 25 departments. Similar courses
based on the materials he has developed at Stanford are taught at
universities worldwide. Among his influential textbooks, Boyd's
2004 Convex Optimization (with L. Vandenberghe) has become
one of the most highly cited books on optimization. It introduces
readers to the mathematical theory and algorithms for convex
optimization and teaches them through numerous examples how
to build convex optimization models for practical applications. A
strong proponent of open-source initiatives, Boyd takes pride in
making his books, software, and course materials publicly available. This includes his CVX optimization parser-solver program
for MATLAB, which has become an invaluable tool for optimization classes and research. Software developed by Boyd's research
group has lowered the threshold to optimization technology for
nonexperts and has greatly expanded the use of optimization in
industry. His website serves as an indispensable resource for students and researchers and receives more than 1.6 million visits
per year. A sought-after speaker for lectures and short courses
around the world, Boyd is known for energizing his audiences
and inspiring them to take the power of optimization further.
An IEEE Fellow and member of the U.S. National Academy of
Engineering, Boyd is the Samsung Professor in the School of Engineering and professor of electrical engineering, with courtesy
appointments in the Department of Management Science and
Engineering and the Department of Computer Science Engineering, at Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.

Scope: For exceptional achievement in systems engineering and
systems science.

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

9 | 2017 IEEE AWARDS BOOKLET

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Awards Booklet - 2017