Jan 27, 2021   SOURCE: PR NewsWire

2020 IEEE-USA Awards Honor Outstanding Contributions in Trying Times

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IEEE-USA is thrilled to announce the recipients of the 2020 IEEE-USA Awards. The awardees were chosen to receive IEEE-USA's highest honors, in recognition of their professionalism, technical achievement, and literary contributions to the engineering profession in the United States.

"IEEE volunteers found ways to help others thrive in a difficult year," said Brendan Godfrey, 2020 IEEE-USA Vice President of Communications. "They rose to meet the challenges of 2020 and we are truly proud of the innovative ways they contributed to IEEE-USA's mission."

The difficult task of deciding among the many worthy candidates each year falls to the IEEE-USA Awards and Recognitions Committee, led in 2020 by committee chair Susan Gilmore.

"There are so many whose great work in our community deserves to be honored," said Gilmore. "While we have to choose just a few to receive these awards, I want to thank all of the nominators for recognizing their fellow members."

The full list of award recipients is as follows:

IEEE-USA Award for Distinguished Public Service

    --  Andrei IancuFor his outstanding work updating patent regulations
        benefiting IEEE's U.S. members by clarifying and strengthening
        intellectual property protection and reducing administrative hurtles.

The IEEE-USA John Meredith Professional Service Award

    --  Christopher SandersonFor exceptional leadership and creation of
        programming for the professional development of IEEE's U.S. members.

IEEE-USA Harry Diamond Memorial Award

    --  John TagueFor exceptional leadership and achievements in research and
        development for the U.S. Navy's technology enterprise

George F. McClure Citation of Honor

    --  Michael AndrewsFor leadership promoting engineering professionalism and
        IEEE member engagement to students and young professionals through the
        development of the Rising Stars conference and numerous educational
        initiatives.

    --  Zafar TaqviFor enduring dedication in promoting professional
        activities--through contributions to member engagement; for inspiring
        and mentoring members; and for increasing IEEE visibility in industry.

IEEE-USA Entrepreneur Achievement Award for Leadership in Entrepreneurial Spirit

    --  Azad MadniFor excellence in entrepreneurship over a lifetime of
        innovation, mentorship, and philanthropy

IEEE-USA Jim Watson Student Professional Awareness Achievement Award

    --  Shilpita BiswasFor sustained leadership increasing IEEE's visibility
        with industry, growing student membership, and organizing professional
        development events.

IEEE-USA K-12 STEM Literacy Educator-Engineer Partnership Award

    --  Stuart Wecker & Christine BuschFor building a highly successful,
        sustained partnership between the Tempe school district and IEEE
        volunteers to provide hands-on STEM workshops.

Award for Distinguished Literary Contributions Furthering Public Understanding and the Advancement of the Engineering Profession

    --  Karen PanettaFor co-authorship of the book, "Count Girls In", which
        serves as an inspiration for youth to pursue technology careers, and for
        lifelong commitment to STEM Literacy

Board Special Citation

    --  Mark Soffa, Kai A. Flowers, and James Joseph Talley MontgomeryFor
        creation and implementation of an innovative STEM education model during
        COVID-19 restrictions.

IEEE-USA Robert S. Walleigh Award for Distinguished Contributions to Engineering Professionalism

    --  No recipient

To learn more about the IEEE-USA Awards or to see past recipients, visit ieeeusa.org/volunteers/awards-recognition/. Nominations for the 2021 awards open on 1 April 2021.

About IEEE-USA:
IEEE-USA serves the public good and promotes the careers and public policy interests of 170,000 engineering, computing and technology professionals who are U.S. members of IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization.

Visit us online at ieeeusa.org, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube channel and check us out on LinkedIn.

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SOURCE IEEE-USA