Prize
Plaque, certificate, and honorarium of US$1000.
Eligibility
The award shall be open to individuals at any level who were industry employees at the time of the accomplishments being recognized. Candidate need not be an IEEE member.
Basis for Judging
Major industrial accomplishments, standards, deployment of important processes or products, etc, that are of substantial benefit to the public in the field of communications and information technologies and visible beyond the company or institution where the contribution was made.
Schedule
Nominations will be solicited each year, up to the nominations deadline decided by the Awards Committee.
Administration and Funding
The IEEE Communications Society will administer the award. Funding will be covered by the annual Communications Society operating budget unless a suitable endowment is established.
Presentation
Annually (as soon as possible after recommendation). No more than three awards may be made in any calendar year. The award will not be conferred in any given year if suitable candidates are not identified. The award will be presented at a major Communication Society annual conference or venue appropriate to the business area of the recipient.
Deadline
Nominations due 1 September unless otherwise noted.
2024 Award Recipient
Charlie Jianzhong Zhang
For contributions to the standard and development of Massive MIMO systems
Charlie Jianzhong Zhang is an SVP at Samsung Research America, where he leads research, prototyping, and standardization for 5G/6G and other wireless systems. He is also a Corporate VP and head of the global 6G team at Samsung Research. He is currently serving as the ATIS North America Next-G Alliance Full Member Group Vice Chair. He was the Board Chair of the FiRa Consortium from May 2019 to May 2023, and the Vice Chair of the 3GPP RAN1 working group from 2009 to 2013, where he led development of LTE and LTE-Advanced technologies. He worked for Nokia Research Center and Motorola Mobility for 6 years before joining Samsung in 2007. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dr. Zhang is a Fellow of IEEE.
PAST AWARD RECIPIENTS
2023 - No Award
2022 - No Award
2021 - No Award
2020 - No Award
2019 - Carlos Pignataro
2018 - No Award
2017 - Thomas L. Marzetta
2016 - Thierry Klein
2015 - Chih-Lin I
2014 - Wen Tong
2013 - Rajiv Laroia
2012 - Stephen Alexander
2011 - Lawrence Bernstein
2010 - No Award
2009 - David Belanger