Dr. Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay, a mixed-signal design engineer with Texas Instruments in Dallas, is the IEEE/IEEE-USA’s 2008 “New Face of Engineering.” He is one of 14 young engineers recognized for this international honor.
The New Faces of Engineering is sponsored by the National Engineers Week Foundation, a coalition of engineering societies, major corporations and government agencies. The program highlights the vitality, diversity and rich contributions of engineers under 30. Each engineering society’s top choice must hold an engineering degree, be employed as an engineer from two to five years, and have worked with projects that significantly affect public welfare or further professional development and growth.
Mukhopadhyay, 26, pioneered the development of ultra-high-data-rate wireless systems that can transfer data at greater than five gigabits (or billion bits) per second. Using current wireless data transfer rates of around 100 megabits (or million bits) per second, it takes minutes to download music or video onto an iPod. By comparison, using Mukhopadhyay’s innovations, a 17-gigabit DVD can be downloaded in less than three seconds.
He is presently contributing to expanding Texas Instruments’ business in disk drive technology to develop the industry’s fastest read/write speeds, error-free data transfer and improved energy efficiency.
Mukhopadhyay earned his bachelor of technology degree with honors from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharangpur, West Bengal, India, in 2002. He added a master’s (2004) and doctorate (2006) from Georgia Tech in electrical and computer engineering. He was only 25 when he earned his Ph.D.
Mukhopadhyay is a member of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society and the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society. He has published more than 20 technical papers (three invited) in IEEE journals and conferences and holds eight patents (issued and pending). His picture and bio appeared with the other New Faces of Engineering in a full-page ad in USA Today on 18 February. See http://www.eweek.org/site/Engineers/newfaces2008/index.shtml.
An ad hoc committee of IEEE members Vern Johnson of Tucson, Ariz.; Paul Kostek of Seattle; Kiki Ikossi of Alexandria, Va.; and Lee Stogner of Taylors, S.C., selected Mukhopadhyay as the IEEE/IEEE-USA’s New Face.
The committee’s other top choices were Thomas Ainsworth, who works for the Northrop Grumman Corporation in Redondo Beach, Calif.; Jason Karns (Westinghouse Electric Co., Monroeville, Pa.); Lukas Kunz (Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz.); and Laleh Samani (Motorola, Fort Worth, Texas). Their bios are available at http://www.eweek.org/site/Engineers/newfaces2008/IEEE.shtml.
For more on all the 2008 “New Faces” honorees, go to http://www.eweek.org/site/News/Eweek/2008_newfaces.shtml.
IEEE-USA advances the public good and promotes the careers and public policy interests of more than 215,000 engineers, scientists and allied professionals who are U.S. members of the IEEE. IEEE-USA is part of the IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional society with 370,000 members in 160 countries. See http://www.ieeeusa.org.