Rappaport wins Terman award
Theodore S. Rappaport, Ph.D., will receive the 2002 Frederick Emmons Terman Award of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education on Nov. 7 at the Frontiers in Education Conference in Boston.
Rappaport is a professor at the University of Texas and is chairman of Wireless Valley Communications, both in Austin. The Terman award, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard, is given to “an outstanding young electrical engineering educator in recognition of the educator’s contributions to the profession,” the citation from H-P reads.
Among other requirements, H-P said that the recipient must be the principal author of an electrical engineering textbook judged by peers to be outstanding by virtue of its original contribution to the field. Rappaport has authored, co-authored or co-edited 15 books in the wireless field, including Wireless Communications: Principles and Practice, which is in use at more than 100 universities and many companies.
H-P also said that the Terman award recipient must have “outstanding achievements in teaching, research, guidance of students and related activities.” Rapppaport founded and directed a wireless research and educational group, the Mobile and Portable Radio Research Group, at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg.
Rappaport’s current research develops new methods for analyzing and developing wireless broadband network access and portable Internet access. This work is already being tested at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, where wireless LAN ports are installed around campus.
Rappaport has founded a new wireless program, the Wireless Networking and Communications Group, at the University of Texas.
“In what has only been a few months, we now have a critical mass of faculty and students, and it’s just the beginning,” Rappaport said.
Roger Skidmore, president of Wireless Valley, said, “All of us at Wireless Valley wish to congratulate Professor Rappaport on this great honor. Ted’s contributions to the field of wireless communications are extraordinary, and we are very pleased and excited that his work has been recognized in such a prestigious fashion.”
Wireless Valley provides software products that allow engineers, technicians and facilities managers to bid, design, install, measure, optimize and maintain wired or wireless indoor and campus networks. The products help to eliminate travel, make rapid and accurate network installations, provide automatic archiving and documentation storage, and support on-going troubleshooting and asset management of telecommunications networks.
Rappaport is a Fellow of the Radio Club of America, New York, and as a college student, he received a scholarship from the club.