Two Stanford professors elected to National Academy of Engineering

By Mitzi Baker and Dawn Levy

Two Stanford professors have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Gary H. Glover and Arogyaswami J. Paulraj were among 76 new members announced by the NAE on Feb. 10. Their election brings the number of Stanford academy members to 84 plus one foreign associate.

The NAE's mission is to promote the technological welfare of the nation by marshaling the knowledge and insight of eminent members of the engineering profession. Total U.S. membership is 2,216, with 186 foreign associates.

Election to the NAE is one of the highest professional distinctions that can be accorded an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature," and to the "pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."

Gary Harold Glover, professor of radiology and director of the Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging, was praised for research and engineering in the development of imaging techniques—computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). CT generates a three-dimensional image from numerous X-ray images scanned around the object or patient. MRI also generates detailed images inside the body, but it uses powerful magnets to excite the hydrogen atoms in water molecules—rather than X-rays—to produce a detectable signal. Glover's research focuses on the physics and mathematics of improving these imaging methods. He also has made significant contributions to the engineering of systems, and helped develop products that have benefited millions of patients. He is named on nearly 50 patents.

Glover received his doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota. He worked at General Electric for more than 20 years, where he was critical to GE's success in medical imaging. Glover arrived at Stanford in 1990 when he joined the Department of Radiology. He collaborates extensively with scientists in other disciplines and holds courtesy appointments in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Psychology. His 250 published scientific research articles include such topics as the neurology of pain-related fear and anxiety and the development of new brain-imaging techniques to understand mental retardation.

Glover directs Stanford's Radiological Science Laboratory, which has installed a new investigational 7-Tesla whole body MRI system. The new system will allow scientists unprecedented resolution and sensitivity with which they hope to develop techniques for observing neurons firing, visualizing kidney and cardiovascular function, and diagnosing breast and prostate cancer.

Arogyaswami Joseph Paulraj, professor (research) of electrical engineering, was lauded for contributions to the theory and practice of MIMO smart antenna wireless technology. MIMO stands for "multiple input, multiple output," and it refers to a technology that speeds transmissions by increasing the number of spatial channels through which data can flow. The revolutionary work has applications in mobile, wireless local-area and wide-area networks. While traditional technology sent wireless transmissions from a single transmitting antenna to a single receiving antenna, the new technology uses multiple transmitting antennas and receiving antennas. This "smart antenna" technology arose out of the pioneering work by Paulraj and his group that began at Stanford in the 1990s and brought such dramatic improvements that it has since been adopted in several worldwide standards for wireless technologies including WiFi, WiMAX, 3G and 3.5G. Paulraj was winner of the 2003 Technical Achievement Award from the Signal Processing Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in recognition of his outstanding contributions to this field.

Paulraj received his doctorate in 1973 from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi. Before coming to Stanford in 1993, he served in the Indian Navy and was assigned to various research and development leadership positions in India, including chief scientist of the Central Research Lab of Bharat Electronics and director of both the Center for the Development of Advanced Computing and the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. He is author of about 300 research publications and holds about two dozen patents.

In addition to supervising the Smart Antennas Research Group, Paulraj is an advising faculty member at the Stanford Center for Position, Navigation and Time, which aims to advance the Global Positioning System to enhance resolution and reliability in location information. Currently on a part-time leave of absence from Stanford, Paulraj is co-founder and chief technology officer at Beceem Communications Inc., with headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif.

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