Mittelman, Simar elected IEEE fellows

BY DWIGHT DANIELS
Special to Rice News

Rice Electrical and Computer Engineering Department faculty members Dan Mittelman and Ray Simar have been elected 2011 fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

	DAN MITTELMAN		RAY SIMAR

“This is great honor for Dan and Ray,” said Behnaam Aazhang, the J.S. Abercrombie Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and chair of electrical and computer engineering. “Their continuing contributions to Rice, the department and students make them very deserving of this important recognition from their peers.”

Mittelman, a professor, was cited for his “contributions to terahertz radiation imaging, sensing and spectroscopy.” He joined the Rice faculty in 1996 after working at AT&T’s Bell Laboratories. Mittelman received a Bachelor of Science in physics from MIT and earned a master’s degree and doctorate in physics from the University of California-Berkeley. He is also a fellow of the Optical Society of America.

Simar, a professor in the practice, was recognized for “leadership in digital signal processor architecture development.” He previously worked at Texas Instruments, where he was an industry fellow and advanced architecture development manager. Simar earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Rice in 1983 and has been teaching and doing research in digital signal processing.

IEEE has 385,000 members in 160 countries and is the world’s leading professional association for advancing technology for humanity. The designation of “fellow” is the highest grade of membership and is recognized by the technical community as a prestigious honor and an important career achievement. Only 321 individuals have been elevated to IEEE fellows for 2011.

— Dwight Daniels is a science writer in the George R. Brown School of Engineering.