2020 IEEE Medal & Recognition Recipients Honored Online

IEEE Fellow Rajiv Laroia has received this year’s IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal “for contributions to cellular wireless data systems.”

Laroia’s development of Flash-OFDM (fast low latency access with seamless handoff—orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) was integral to transitioning cellular voice access systems to the wireless data access systems that have mobilized our access to the Internet via smartphones, tablets, and wireless modems.

He realized that the nature of Internet data traffic demanded a redefinition of wireless connectivity and thus developed Flash-OFDM. Flash-OFDM, plus many other concepts developed by Laroia and his teams, helped form the basis for the LTE and 4G systems that are powering today’s mobile broadband communications.

Laroia is the founder and chief technology officer of The Light Company, Far Hills, NJ, USA.

The Alexander Graham Bell Medal was established in 1976. The award is sponsored by Nokia Bell Labs.

This year, in light of the global health emergency and pervasive travel restrictions, IEEE made the difficult decision not to hold the in-person IEEE Honors Ceremony. Instead, Laroia and the other 22 diverse 2020 IEEE Medal and Recognition recipients will be honored in a series of online promotions.

—Visit the Awards’ Facebook and Twitter social media platforms to see a continuing series of posts highlighting each 2020 recipient.

—A great series of videos featuring all of 2020 Medal and Recognition recipients has been created on the Awards Channel on IEEE.TV. Each video offers a unique look at this year’s award recipients, including their tremendous contributions that have made a lasting impact on technology, society, and the engineering profession. 

—To learn more about the Medal of Honor and all other awards in IEEE’s Awards Program portfolio, lip through the digital 2020 IEEE Awards Booklet, where you’ll find each recipient’s photo and bio.

—The Awards Program is also partnering with the IEEE History Center to promote the 2020 recipients on their Engineering and Technology Wiki. Read Q&As with these recipients to find out what motivates them, what got them started in their careers—as well as lots of other interesting factoids about them, including their favorite foods.

Plans are being made to recognize the 2020 recipients at the 2021 IEEE Vision, Innovation, and Challenges Summit & Honors Ceremony.

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