Two Illinois professors elected to National Academy of Engineering
Weng Cho Chew and Thomas J. Overbye, both professors of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, have been elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering.
From news.illinois.edu:
Chew and Overbye are among 69 new members and 11 foreign associates
announced by the academy today (Feb. 7). Election to the NAE is one of
the highest professional honors an engineer can garner. The 2,250
members and 211 foreign associates are an elite group distinguished by
their outstanding contributions to the fields of technology and
engineering.
“Having two Illinois faculty members inducted into NAE in the same
year is truly an outstanding accomplishment for our institution, the
College of Engineering and the department of electrical and computer
engineering,” said Ilesanmi Adesida, the provost and vice chancellor for
academic affairs of the Urbana campus. “Both Weng Chew and Tom Overbye
are groundbreaking and innovative researchers whose work exemplifies the
excellence that characterizes Illinois. I am proud to know them as
colleagues, and today is another great day to be a part of the Illinois
campus.”
Chew was cited for his contributions to large-scale
computational electromagnetics of complex structures. He is an expert in
the field of electromagnetic scattering – the way that light, radio
wave and microwave and their energy diffuse as they pass through or
reflect off a medium. While some scattering data can be useful, such as
with radar, remote sensing or X-rays, some scattering causes
interference to signals, as in a computer chip. Chew works to develop
fast and efficient computational algorithms to address scattering
problems at different length scales.
Chew earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980. He joined the faculty at
Illinois in 1985. He is a fellow of the Institute of Physics, the
Optical Society of America, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers and the Electromagnetic Academy. He also is affiliated with
the department of computer science at the U. of I.
Overbye, the Fox Family Professor in electrical and computer
engineering, was cited for his work on visualization and analysis tools
for power systems. His research focuses on the infrastructure of the
power grid, including visualizing power system information, optimizing
power distribution, integrating renewable energy sources such as wind
and solar into the power grid, and power grid cybersecurity. Overbye
developed the PowerWorld Simulator, an innovative computer program for
power system analysis and visualization.
Overbye earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees
in electrical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before
joining the faculty at Illinois in 1991. He was a member of the U.S.
Department of Energy’s investigation team for the Aug. 14, 2003,
blackout. Overbye also is affiliated with the Information Trust Institute at the U. of I.
Read more: http://news.illinois.edu/news/13/0207NAE_WengChoChew_ThomasOverbye.html
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