2018 Distinguished Educator Award for Professor Alwyn Seeds

Many congratulations to Professor Alwyn Seeds, Head of the Photonics Group and former Head of Department, who is to receive the 2018 Distinguished Educator Award of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S). This award is given to a distinguished educator in the field of microwave engineering and science who exemplifies the special human qualities of the late Fred J. Rosenbaum who considered teaching a high calling and demonstrated his dedication to the MTT-S through tireless service.

His citation reads:

“For Outstanding Achievements as an Educator, Mentor, and Role Model for Microwave Engineers and Engineering Students.”

The award consists of a recognition plaque, a certificate and an honorarium. The award will be conferred at the annual Society Awards Banquet to be held during the International Microwave Symposium the week of 10 – 15 June 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Professor Alwyn J. Seeds holds the B.Sc. degree in Electronics, the Ph.D. degree in Electronic Engineering and the D.Sc. (Eng.) degree, all from the University of London. From 1980 to 1983 he was a Staff Member at Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was appointed Lecturer in Telecommunications at Queen Mary University of London in 1983. In 1986 he moved to UCL where he is currently Professor of Opto-electronics and Head of the Photonics Group. Professor Seeds is Chairman of the IEE Photonics Professional Network, a Past-Chair of the IEEE International Topical Meeting on Microwave Photonics, Steering Committee and has served as the Conference Chairman or Technical Programme Committee Chairman for many international conferences. He is a co-founder of ZinWave Inc., a wireless technology company. He was elected an IEEE Fellow in 1997 for his contributions to the development of microwave photonic devices and systems and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2003.

Professor Seeds is author of over 250 papers on microwave and opto-electronic devices and their systems applications and presenter of the video “Microwave Opto-electronics” in the IEEE Emerging Technologies series.

His research areas of interest include:

  • Photonic generation and detection of THz signals
  • Optical communication systems
  • Wireless over fibre systems
  • Application of optical techniques to microwave systems
  • Optical frequency synthesis
  • Coherent optical detection technology
  • Opto-electronic device technology, especially using quantum effects
  • Tuneable semiconductor lasers, especially fast tuning and athermal operation
  • Optical regeneration and signal processing
  • Optical control of microwave devices