Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Two researchers elected to the National Academy of Engineering

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Two University of Illinois researchers — Karl Hess and Thomas S. Huang — have been elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering.

Hess and Huang were among 74 engineers selected for membership in the NAE, which was established in 1964 under a charter from the National Academy of Sciences as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers.

Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions in engineering. The current NAE membership includes 2,061 U.S. engineers and 154 foreign associates.

Hess, a Swanlund Professor of electrical and computer engineering and a researcher at the university’s Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, was cited for his contributions to hot electron transport and the numerical simulation of semiconductor devices.

Hess is an internationally recognized researcher in the areas of solid-state electronics, the physics and chemistry of molecular and electronic nanostructures, and theory and simulation of optoelectronics. He also is one of the founders of the new area of computational electronics. Hess joined the UI faculty in 1978.

Huang, the William L. Everitt Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering and a researcher at the university’s Coordinated Science Laboratory and at the Beckman Institute, was cited for his contributions to the theory and practice of image compression, retrieval and analysis.

Huang is an expert in image processing, computer vision and visual communication. His work involves enhancing visual images and extracting three-dimensional motion information from image sequences. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers recently awarded Huang the 2001 Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal. Huang joined the UI faculty in 1980.

Read Next

Life sciences Portrait of the research team posing together.

Minecraft players can now explore whole cells and their contents

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have translated nanoscale experimental and computational data into precise 3D representations of bacteria, yeast and human epithelial, breast and breast cancer cells in Minecraft, a video game that allows players to explore, build and manipulate structures in three dimensions. The innovation will allow researchers and students of all ages to navigate […]

Arts Photo of seven dancers onstage wearing blue tops and orange or yellow flowing skirts. The backdrop is a Persian design.

February Dance includes works experimenting with live music, technology and a ‘sneaker ballet’

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The dance department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will present February Dance 2025: Fast Forward this week at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. February Dance will be one of the first performances in the newly renovated Colwell Playhouse Theatre since its reopening. The performances are Jan. 30-Feb. 1. Dance professor […]

Honors portraits of four Illinois researchers

Four Illinois researchers receive Presidential Early Career Award

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. The winners this year are health and kinesiology professor Marni Boppart, physics professor Barry Bradlyn, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010