The IEEE Board of Directors has nominated Fellows Ray Liu and S.K. Ramesh as candidates for IEEE president-elect. The candidate elected in this year's election will serve as IEEE president in 2022.
Liu is an engineering professor at the University of Maryland in College Park. He leads the university's Signal and Information Group, which researches signal processing and communications.
He has founded several startups including Origin Wireless, which pioneered AI for wireless sensing and indoor tracking. Under Liu's leadership as chief executive, the company invented the world's first centimeter-accuracy indoor positioning and tracking system using the principle of “time reversal." The invention is now available in more than 150 countries.
Liu has held many volunteer positions. He was the 2019 vice president of IEEE Technical Activities. As 2012–2013 president of the IEEE Signal Processing Society, he established a new membership board to offer more benefits to society members—which resulted in increased membership. In 2005 he cofounded the IEEE Signal Processing chapter in Washington, D.C. From 2003 to 2005, he was editor-in-chief of IEEE Signal Processing magazine.
He was also the 2016–2017 Division IX director.
Liu was elevated to IEEE Fellow in 2003 “for contributions to algorithms, architectures, and implementations for signal processing."
He was inducted as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2008 and of the U.S. National Academy of Inventors last year.
He has received numerous IEEE honors and recognitions including the 2009 IEEE Signal Processing Society Technical Achievement Award, the 2014 IEEE Signal Processing Society Award, and the 2016 IEEE Leon K. Kirchmayer Graduate Teaching Award.
Photo: S.K. Ramesh
Ramesh is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at California State University's College of Engineering and Computer Science in Northridge, where he served as dean from 2006 to 2017. While dean, he created an interdisciplinary master's degree program in assistive technology engineering to meet emerging workforce needs.
Ramesh is the founding director of the university's nationally recognized Attract, Inspire, Mentor, and Support Students program, which enhances the graduation of underrepresented minorities in engineering and computer science.
He has served on the IEEE Board of Directors, Awards Board, and Fellows Committee. As the 2016–2017 vice president of IEEE Educational Activities, he championed several successful programs including the IEEE Learning Network and the IEEE TryEngineering Summer Institute.
He expanded chapters globally to serve all 10 regions and increased industry support as the 2016 president of IEEE's honor society, IEEE-HKN.
Ramesh was elevated to IEEE Fellow in 2015 for “contributions to entrepreneurship in engineering education."
He serves on the ABET Board of Directors, the global accrediting organization for academic programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, and is an experienced program evaluator.
Ramesh has served Region 6 at the section, chapter, and area levels. His many recognitions include the 2004 Region 6 Community Service award, and the 2012 John Guarrera Engineering Educator of the Year award from the Engineers Council.
