Sigma Xi/IIT Awards for Excellence in University Research:
In recognition of the exemplary accomplishments in research, scholarship, and creative activity by faculty members and graduate students at Illinois Institute of Technology, the Office of the Provost, the Office of Research, and the Illinois Tech Chapter of Sigma Xi sponsor the annual Sigma Xi/IIT Awards for Excellence in University Research. Sigma Xi is a scientific research society of nearly 75,000 scientists and engineers who have been elected to the society because of their research achievements or potential.
This year one award has been made in the student category, one award in the junior faculty category, and one award in the senior faculty category.
The awardees are:
- Professor John Shen- Senior Faculty Award
- Seok Hoon Hong- Junior Faculty Award
- Boyang Wang- Student Award
Biographies for the winners are listed below:
John Shen
Professor Shen is recognized world-wide as an innovative researcher, prominent educator, and a leading expert in the area of power electronics and solid-state devices. He has made remarkable and groundbreaking contributions to that field over a sustained period. Professor Shen has over 290 publications including several book chapters, and 18 issued patents. He was elevated to IEEE Fellow in 2010 for contributions to the “development of high frequency lateral power metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors”. In 2018, he was elected to Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He is also a recipient of the 2012 IEEE Region 3 Outstanding Engineer Award (a single annual award among 30,000 IEEE members in Region 3), the 2012 E. T. Walton Fellowship from the Science Foundation of Ireland, the 2003 NSF CAREER Award, and the 2006 IEEE Transaction Paper Award from the IEEE Society of Power Electronics. Earlier in his career he also received the 2003 IEEE Best Automotive Electronics Paper Award from IEEE Society of Vehicular Technology, and the 1996 Motorola Science and Technology Award.
Seok Hoon Hong
Seok Hoon Hong is a biochemical engineer studying protein engineering and synthetic biology for controlling antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and resilient biofilms. His research has had a significant impact on strategies for preventing infectious diseases, improving food safety, and enhancing water treatment technologies. He has been published in top tier peer-reviewed journals, including Nature Communications, Nature Biotechnology, and Nature Chemical Biology.
Boyang Wang
Boyang is a young scholar with a proven record of high-quality research accomplishments. His research in the area of machine learning, signal analysis for ultrasonic imaging and communication systems, data compression and digital system-on-chip design has already been published in premier IEEE journals and many IEEE sponsored conference proceedings. His research work while pursuing his MS and Ph.D. degrees at Illinois Tech has resulted in a total of 31 publications: 7 journal publications (including 4 under preparation), 21 conference papers, an MS Thesis, and technical reports. His research work already has 80 citations. He is the recipient of several research awards including the prestigious 2019 IEEE Ultrasonics Best Student Paper Award. Boyang’s pioneering work on developing communication protocols for ultrasonic signal transmission through solids created a breakthrough in this subject.
Furthermore, Boyang has shown leadership skills as a researcher in the Embedded Computing and Signal Processing (ECASP) Research Laboratory by mentoring several graduate students with their research projects.