Professor Robert Gray Named 2020 Aaron D. Wyner Distinguished Service Award Recipient
By Allison Kleber
The IEEE Information Theory Society has honored BU ECE Research Professor Robert M. Gray with the 2020 Aaron D. Wyner Distinguished Service Award. The Wyner Award is given in recognition of an individual’s outstanding leadership in, and exceptional service to, the Information Theory community over a substantial period of time; a description that could not be more appropriate for Professor Gray, whose contributions to the field have spanned more than 50 years.
Bob Gray was educated at MIT and the University of Southern California, where he received his PhD in Electrical Engineering in 1969. He is the Alcatel-Lucent Technologies Professor of Communications and Networking, Emeritus, at Stanford University, a Fellow of IEEE and of the Institute for Mathematical Statistics, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of Foundations and Trends in Signal Processing. A few of his numerous awards and honors include the IEEE Information Theory Society Claude E. Shannon Award (2008), the IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal (2008), the IEEE Signal Processing Society Meritorious Service Award (2005) and Education Award (2009), and the IEEE Information Theory Society Golden Jubilee Award for Technological Innovation (1998).
His career has been marked by a particular dedication to service and the promotion of equity within his field. In 2002, Professor Gray received the U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM), “for embodying excellence in mentoring underrepresented students and encouraging their achievements in science, mathematics, and engineering.” He served as a member of the France-Stanford Center for Interdisciplinary Studies Executive Committee and a Fellow and Faculty Affiliate of the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University; in 2013, he was named the recipient of the Stanford University President’s Award for Excellence through Diversity “for many years of leadership and advocacy for equity and diversity in engineering.”
Professor Gray joined Boston University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department as a Research Professor in July 2013.