IEEE Awards Booklet - 2021 - 11

2021 IEEE MEDALS

IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr.
Education Medal

IEEE Medal for Environmental and
Safety Technologies

Sponsored by MathWorks, Pearson,
Lockheed Martin Corporation, and the
IEEE Life Members Committee

Sponsored by Toyota Motor Corporation

John D. Cressler

Kaushik Rajashekara

For inspirational teaching and mentoring
of undergraduate and graduate students

For contributions to the advancement of
transportation electrification technologies for
the reduction of emissions and for improving
energy efficiency

A world-renowned researcher in nanoscale-engineered silicongermanium (SiGe) electronics, John D. Cressler's vocation in life
has been educating and mentoring young people, and he has excelled at that as one of Georgia Tech's most decorated professors.
Silicon-germanium alloys are a lower-cost alternative to expensive compound semiconductor components but can still provide
the performance necessary to enable the higher-frequency requirements of today's and the future's wireless and wired communications devices. As leader of one of the largest and most visible SiGe-focused research teams in the world, Cressler and his
students at Georgia Tech have helped pioneer this emerging field
that is providing the infrastructure to fuel the global communications revolution. During his tenure there, Cressler has introduced
very popular courses. His " Introduction to the Microelectronics
and Nanotechnology Revolution " is open to all majors/years, and
he started the graduate-level " Silicon-based Heterostructure Devices and Circuits. " Both courses utilize textbooks that Cressler
wrote, and they have been adopted at other universities. He also
teaches his " Science, Engineering, and Religion: An Interfaith
Dialogue " course within Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen Liberal Arts
College.This course is open to undergraduate students of all years
and majors. Mentoring students is Cressler's great passion, and he
feels that his greatest accomplishments are measured by the success of his students. His graduate students have become leaders in
the most prominent electronics companies of the world, including IBM, Intel, Texas Instruments, and National Semiconductor;
many have received fellowships; and others have become professors and started their own businesses. He also has been asked on
many occasions to share his thoughts on teaching, mentoring, and
work-life balance with incoming Georgia Tech faculty, staff, and
students.
An IEEE Fellow and recipient of the 2013 Georgia Tech Class
of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award, Cressler is the Schlumberger Chair Professor in Electronics in the School of Electrical
and Computer Engineering and the Ken Byers Teaching Fellow
in Science and Religion at the Georgia Institute of Technology,
Atlanta, GA, USA.

Kaushik Rajashekara's pioneering work in advancing transportation electrification technologies has been instrumental in improving energy efficiency of land, air, and sea vehicles and reducing harmful emissions in the environment. His most significant
contributions have been in power and propulsion technologies
for electric vehicles, such as General Motors EV1 and other commercialized vehicles, to maximize efficiency and performance. He
developed various control strategies, switching methods, and microprocessor implementation techniques for torque control of ac
machines to maximize efficiency and to optimize performance of
electric vehicle propulsion systems He also developed a method
for disconnecting the battery from the rest of the propulsion system and for charging the dc link capacitors in electric vehicles,
enabling safe disconnection of the battery and for safely charging
the dc capacitors after sudden connection of the battery to capacitors. These concepts are still being used today in electric and
hybrid vehicles. Rajashekara has made significant contributions to
fuel cell vehicle propulsion systems and developed technologies
for controlling the fuel cell stack power and relating stack current
and hydrogen input. These have been used in many early fuel
cell demonstration vehicles, including the first gasoline reformerbased fuel cell vehicle. He also investigated various technologies
and systems for the advancement of " more electric engines " and
" more electric/hybrid electric aircraft. " These include power
conversion and control strategies, effective management of power
sharing between the high-pressure and low-pressure shafts, architectures for more electrification and hybridization, powering
critical loads during engine failure, and electric aircraft taxiing for
reducing airport ground emissions. He has been a key proponent
of hybrid flying cars and vertical take-off and landing vehicles,
which have the potential to reduce traffic congestion and, therefore, emissions. His work on subsea electrical systems, enabling
electrification of oil and gas extraction, is helping to reduce emissions and improve the safety of subsea oil and gas exploration.
An IEEE Life Fellow and member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, Rajashekara is a Distinguished Professor of
Engineering with the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA.

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

Scope: For outstanding accomplishments in the application of
technology in the fields of interest of IEEE that improve the environment and/or public safety.

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IEEE Awards Booklet - 2021

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