AUBURN -- Prathima Agrawal, one of the world's leading researchers in Internet architecture and computer networking, has been named head of the wireless engineering program in Auburn University's Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.
Agrawal, who is currently executive director of Telcordia Technologies's Mobile Networking Research Department and assistant vice president of its Network Systems Research Laboratory in New Jersey, has also been named as the first Samuel Ginn Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
At the same time, Auburn engineering dean Larry Benefield announced that Agrawal's husband, Vishwani Agrawal, a world-renowned researcher in electronic testing, has been appointed as the first Danaher Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at AU.
"We are extremely fortunate in attracting Prathima and Vishwani to our faculty here in Auburn," said Benefield. "These distinguished chairs have been endowed through the generosity of involved alumni who realize that this kind of support is necessary to bring Auburn University's engineering programs to a higher level as we seek to join a national circle of elite engineering institutions."
Vishwani Agrawal, currently a visiting professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Rutgers University, will teach and conduct research in several areas as a professor in Auburn's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
"Both of them have absolutely fantastic records of achievement not only in teaching and research, but in the management of complex, highly technological programs," said David Irwin, head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "They will be advancing the goals of Auburn University's Information Technology Peak of Excellence, which represents a large, cross-disciplinary effort that addresses some of the most cutting edge developments in the fields of computer and wireless engineering.
"Prathima will be our point person on all things wireless," Irwin said. "She has a demonstrated ability to push this technology far beyond today's boundaries. Vishwani will take the lead in our electronics testing area with a presence that I believe will bring Auburn to a dominant international role in this area."
Prathima Agrawal's recent work at Telcordia Technologies -- formerly Bellcore -- in Morristown, N.J., focused on third and fourth generation mobile wireless Internet systems, with a team of two dozen researchers working with a variety of public and private clients.
As assistant vice president, she was responsible for overseeing business operations that included contract negotiations, research strategy and compensation guidelines.
Prathima Agrawal was also head of the Networked Computing Research Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., and visiting professor in Rutger's Wireless Networking Laboratory.
She holds the doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Southern California, a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Rochester, and graduate and undergraduate degrees from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India. She holds 30 U.S. patents.
Vishwani Agrawal, who was a member of the technical staff at Agere Systems and in a similar capacity at Bell Labs, has also been a visiting professor at Rutgers University for more than a decade.
His interests include leading-edge research in state-of-the-art semiconductor products, particularly VLSI circuits that are used in a wide variety of products ranging from cell phones to automobiles to home automation to literally thousands of other applications.
Vishwani Agrawal is a member of the advisory boards of the electrical and computer engineering departments at two universities and has taught both graduate and undergraduate students.
He received the doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a master's degree with distinction from the Indian Institute of Science and a bachelor's degree with honors from the Indian Institute of Technology in Roorkee, India. He holds more than a dozen patents in his field and has written five books.
The Agrawals are fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineers in India. Vishwani Agrawal is also a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery.
Prathima
Agrawal
Samuel
Ginn Distinguished Professor and Director,
Wireless Engineering Research and Education Center (WEREC)
Junmo
Yang, Web-Master
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