Among the newly selected fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) are four members of the MIT community: Domitilla Del Vecchio, professor of mechanical engineering; Asuman Ozdaglar, professor and head of the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS); Robert Shin, principal staff at Lincoln Laboratory; and Joel Voldman, the Clarence J. LeBel Professor of EECS. The IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization, annually confers the rank of fellow on senior members whose body of work has advanced innovation in their respective fields and whose involvement in the engineering community has furthered the IEEE mission of promoting technology to benefit society.

Domitilla Del Vecchio

Professor Domitilla Del Vecchio of the Department of Mechanical Engineering was elevated to IEEE Fellow for her “contributions to circuit engineering in synthetic biology.” She is a member of MIT’s Synthetic Biology Center, where her group focuses on model-based analysis, design, and control of biomolecular networks in living cells. She and her group are researching techniques to make synthetic genetic circuits robust to context and applying these to biosensing and cell fate control for regenerative medicine. Del Vecchio has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, co-authored a textbook, and contributed chapters to several books. Among her awards are the 2020 Newton Award for Transformative Ideas during the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2016 Bose Research Award, 2010 Donald P. Eckman Award from the American Automatic Control Council, and 2007 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award.

Asuman Ozdaglar

Professor Asuman Ozdaglar was recognized for her “contributions to distributed multi-agent networks.” In addition to serving as the head of MIT EECS, she is the MathWorks Professor of EECS and the deputy dean of academics for the MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. Her research investigates problems in the analysis and optimization of large-scale, dynamic multi-agent networked systems, including networks for communication, transportation, and social and economic enterprises. Her extensive list of publications spans peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and invited conference papers. She has served on organizing committees for many technical conferences and has been a reviewer for professional publications such as the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory. Her awards include Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, 2008 Donald P. Eckman Award from the American Automatic Control Council, and NSF CAREER Award.

Robert Shin

Robert T-I. Shin, principal staff in the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Tactical Systems Division at Lincoln Laboratory, was named an IEEE Fellow for his “leadership in electromagnetic modeling of radar systems and in microwave remote sensing.” He is also the director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory Beaver Works and a member of the MIT School of Engineering Extended Engineering Council. Formerly, he was the head of the ISR and Tactical Systems Division. In that role, he oversaw the development of advanced techniques and prototypes in radio frequency, electro-optical, infrared, and acoustic systems; adaptive array processing; embedded computing; and integrated sensing and decision support. Shin has published more than 150 refereed journal articles and conference papers, coauthored the textbook “Theory of Microwave Remote Sensing” (Wiley, 1985), and served on the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board (2006–10). As director of Beaver Works, which is jointly chartered by Lincoln Laboratory and the MIT School of Engineering, he directs a program of project-based education that seeks to involve students in conceptualizing, designing, and building solutions to real-world engineering questions. In 2014, Shin received the Irwin Sizer Award for the Most Significant Improvement to MIT Education in recognition of his leadership to make Beaver Works a reality. In 2016, he extended Beaver Works’ reach to high school students by establishing the Beaver Works Summer Institute, a four-week experiential learning engineering program. 

Joel Voldman

Professor Joel Voldman was elevated to fellow for his “contributions to electronic microscale manipulation of cells.” He is the faculty head of electrical engineering within the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, as well as a principal investigator at MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics and Microsystems Technology Laboratories. His pioneering work in biomedical microelectromechanical systems applies microfabrication technology to illuminate biological systems that range from point-of-care diagnostics to fundamental cell biology to applied neuroengineering. His research builds upon various disciplines: electrical engineering, microfabrication, bioengineering, transport modeling, biology, and medicine. His awards include an NSF CAREER Award, MIT’s Jamieson Teaching Award and Louis D. Smullin Award for Teaching Excellence, and Frank Quick Faculty Research Innovation Fellowship from EECS.