Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

8 ECpE Professors, Alumni Named Among Top 150 Visionaries at Iowa State

 

In celebration of Iowa State University's 150th anniversary, VISIONS magazine editors have compiled a list of the top 150 visionaries in Iowa State history. The individuals on the list helped shape Iowa State and make it the university it is today. The following eight former professors and alumni from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECpE) made the cut:

•  John Vincent Atanasoff (MS mathematics ’26): Inventor (with Clifford Berry) of the first digital electronic computer; recipient of the National Medal of Technology; mathematics and physics professor.

• Clifford Berry (BSEE ’39, MS physics ’41, PhD ’48): Assisted John V. Atanasoff in building both the prototype of the first electronic digital computer and the full-scale machine; went on to obtain 43 patents.

• Abdel-Aziz Fouad (PhDEE ’56): Expert in power system stability and control; National Academy of Engineering member.

• Jerry Junkins (BSEE ’59): Former president and CEO of Texas Instruments.

• David Nicholas (EE, BS ’67, MS ’68, PhD ’71): Developed the digital encoding process that led to the development of the first generation of low-cost fax machines.

• Sehat Sutardja (BSEE ’83): Named 2006 Inventor of the Year and 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year; holds more than 80 U.S. patents.

• Vijay Vittal (PhDEE ’82): Directed the Electric Power Research Center at ISU; member of the National Academy of Engineering.

• Thomas Whitney (EE BS '61, MS 62, PhD '64): Led the Hewlett-Packard group that shrank the calculator to pocket size—a tenth the size of the previous smaller calculator.
  

For the complete list of all 150 Iowa State visionaries, visit the VISIONS magazine Web site (available to ISU Alumni Association members only). To become part of the ISU Alumni Association, visit www.isualum.org.

---