PRESTIGIOUS IEEE MEDAL OF HONOR PRIZE IS INCREASED TO $2 MILLION
The Highest Award for Exceptional Technology, Engineering, and Science Contributions
Given by World’s Largest Technical Professional Organization Now Ranks
Among the Largest Monetary Prizes Globally
For the First Time, Recipient of IEEE 2025 Medal of Honor Award to be Announced at a Press Conference Live-Streamed From New York City Early Next Year
PISCATAWAY, N.J., Sept. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — In a momentous move to recognize the world-changing impact that technology, engineering, and science innovators have on society globally, IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization, today announced that starting in 2025, the IEEE Medal of Honor monetary prize will be increased to $2 million. In addition, for the first time, the 2025 IEEE Medal of Honor laureate will be announced at a dedicated press conference in New York City early next year. To help raise visibility for the vast importance of the work that will be honored, the press conference will be live-streamed. Visit https://engage.ieee.org/medal-of-honor to register for the press conference live stream.
“By significantly increasing the IEEE Medal of Honor monetary prize to $2 million we are elevating our recognition of extraordinary individuals and the work they have done to benefit humanity to its rightful place as one of the world’s most prestigious technology-focused prizes and awards,” said 2024 IEEE President and CEO Thomas M. Coughlin. “It is a move that also underscores IEEE’s role as a public charity whose mission is to advance technology for the benefit of humanity.”
K. J. Ray Liu, Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Raising the Prestige of IEEE Awards and 2022 IEEE President and CEO added, “IEEE Medal of Honor laureates dare to envision the new and revolutionary, and make possible what was previously considered impossible. Their seismic accomplishments and positive impact on our world inspires today’s technologists, who stand on their shoulders to continue advancing technology to make the world a better place.”
Recipients of the IEEE Medal of Honor Have Advanced Technology and Our World in Revolutionary Ways
Established in 1917, the IEEE Medal of Honor is the highest IEEE award, bestowed for remarkable, society-changing achievements such as the creation of the internet; development of life-saving medical device technologies including the CAT scan, MRI, Ultrasound and Pacemaker; as well as transistors and semiconductors, technologies at the heart of modern electronics and computing. The 2025 IEEE Medal of Honor, as well as additional high-profile IEEE awards, will be presented to recipients at the 2025 IEEE Honors Ceremony, which will for the first time be held in Tokyo, Japan, in April 2025.
IEEE Medal of Honor laureates include IEEE Life Fellows:
- ROBERT E. KAHN — Awarded the 2024 IEEE Medal of Honor for pioneering technical and leadership contributions in packet communication technologies and foundations of the internet. Kahn is President and CEO of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives. While working as a program manager in the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s information processing techniques office in 1973, Kahn, along with Vinton (Vint) Cerf, designed the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP). The TCP manages data packets sent over the internet, ensuring they don’t get lost, are received in the proper order, and are reassembled at their destination correctly. The IP manages the addressing and forwarding of data to and from its proper destinations. Together they make up the internet’s core architecture and enable computers to connect and exchange information.
- VINTON (Vint) G. CERF – Awarded the 2023 IEEE Medal of Honor for co-creating the internet architecture and providing sustained leadership in its phenomenal growth in becoming society’s critical infrastructure. Cerf is Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google. He is known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet.” With Robert Kahn, he conceived the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite, the key technical innovation that permitted the transformation of the original ARPANET into today’s internet. He also formed the Internet Configuration Control Board, which evolved into the Internet Architecture Board, the body responsible today for technical oversight of the internet architecture and standards process.
- ASAD M. MADNI – Awarded the 2022 IEEE Medal of Honor for pioneering contributions to the development and commercialization of innovative sensing and systems technologies, and for distinguished research leadership. Madni led the development and commercialization of the GyroChip®, an inexpensive inertial-measurement sensor that was the first such device to be incorporated into automobiles, enabling electronic stability-control (ESC) systems to detect skidding and operate the brakes to prevent rollover accidents. In the five-year period spanning 2011 to 2015, with ESCs being built into all new cars, the systems saved 7,000 lives in the United States alone (U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). The device went on to serve as the heart of stability-control systems in commercial and private aircraft, U.S. missile guidance systems and traveled to Mars as part of the Pathfinder Sojourner rover.
- MILDRED DRESSELHAUS – Awarded the 2015 IEEE Medal of Honor for leadership and contributions across many fields of science and engineering. Emerita professor of physics and materials science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Dresselhaus was known as the “Queen of Carbon Science” whose research into carbon structures paved the way for the rise of nanotechnology, transforming computing and boosting battery-storage capabilities. Researchers have used these technologies to demonstrate paper-thin batteries, unbreakable touch screens, and terabit-speed wireless communications. Combinations of these carbon structures could yield body armor stronger than Kevlar, ultrathin membranes to filter salt from seawater, and even bionic implants for those with spinal-cord or organ damage. Used as electrodes in batteries or capacitors, graphene and nanotubes in energy storage applications, their charge capacities would exceed traditional batteries. When Dresselhaus began her nearly half-century career at MIT, women were just four percent of the undergraduate student population. Through her leadership, MIT adopted an equal and joint admission process for women and men, and promoted women in science, technology, engineering, and math – now known as STEM.
The IEEE Medal of Honor may be given to an individual or team of up to three who have made exceptional contributions or had extraordinary careers in technology, engineering, and science. Criteria for IEEE Medal of Honor consideration include the significance of the achievement, originality, impact on society, impact on the profession, publications, and patents relating to the achievement.
Learn more about the history of the IEEE Medal of Honor at https://www.ieee.org/ns/periodicals/IEEEMedalofHonor/eBook/index.html
About IEEE Awards
For more than a century, the IEEE Awards Program has served as the world’s top peer-recognition program, acknowledging preeminent leaders and visionaries in science, technology, and engineering advancement. Through the program, IEEE advances its members’ interests by recognizing pivotal contributions in fields of interest to IEEE and to the benefit of society.
The IEEE Awards Board administers the top-level Awards Program, encompassing IEEE Medals, Technical Field Awards, and Recognitions. IEEE’s highest Medals and Recognitions are presented at the IEEE Honors Ceremony. For more information, please visit, or follow IEEE Awards on X|Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
About IEEE
IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities, IEEE is the trusted voice in a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers, and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power, and consumer electronics. Learn more at https://www.ieee.org.
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