J. David Irwin
He was born in Minneapolis, MN, on August 9, 1939.

Education
He received the B.E.E. degree from Auburn University, Auburn, AL, in 1961, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1962 and 1967, respectively.

Career Positions
In 1967 he joined Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., Holmdel, NJ, as a member of the Technical Staff and was made a Supervisor in 1968. He joined Auburn University in 1969 as an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering. He was made an Associate Professor in 1972, Associate Professor and Head of the Department in 1973, and Professor and Head in 1976. From 1982 to 1984 he was Professor and Head of EE and CS. In 1993, he was named Earle C. Williams Eminent Scholar and Head. Thus, he has been Head of the ECE Department for more than 35 years.

Professional Activities
Dr. Irwin has served the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) Computer Society as a member of the Education Committee and as Education Editor of Computer. He has served as Chairman of the Southeastern Association of Electrical Engineering Department Heads and the National Association of Electrical Engineering Department Heads and is past president of both the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society and the IEEE Education Society. He is a life member of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society AdCom and has served as a member of the Oceanic Engineering Society AdCom. He served for two years as Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Southeastern Center for Electrical Engineering Education, Inc. and was president of the organization in 1983/84. He has served as an IEEE Adhoc Visitor for ABET Accreditation teams. He has served as a member of the IEEE Educational Activities Board, and was the Accreditation Coordinator for IEEE in 1989. He has served as a member of numerous IEEE committees including the Lamme Medal Award Committee, the Mulligan Education Medal Committee, the Fellow Committee, the Nominations and Appointments Committee, the Admission and Advancement Committee, the Education Society's McGraw Hill/Jacob Millman Award Committee, and he chaired the Undergraduate and Graduate Teaching Award Committee. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the IEEE Press. He has also served as a member of the Secretary of the Army's Advisory Panel for ROTC Affairs and Nominations Chairman for the National Electrical Engineering Department Heads Association. He is also a member of the Board of Governors and President of Eta Kappa Nu, the National Electrical and Computer Engineering Honor Society. He has been and continues to be heavily involved in the management of several international conferences sponsored by the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, and recently served as General Co-Chair for IECON'05.

Publications
He is author and co-author of numerous publications, papers, patent applications and presentations including seventeen textbooks. These texts, that span a wide spectrum of engineering subjects, are published by Macmillan Publishing Company, Prentice Hall Book Company, John Wiley and Sons Book Company, and the IEEE Press. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of a large handbook published by the CRC Press, and serves the CRC Press as the Series Editor for Industrial Electronics.

Business Activities
Research, conducted in cooperation with colleagues at Auburn, has resulted in the development of new technologies that have formed the basis for the establishment of two start-up companies. One of these corporations is PureWave Inc., and the initial product is a world-record Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) chip that is faster, more compact and uses approximately one-seventh the power of the chip that held the previous record. The other company is Aunigma Network Solutions Corp., that supplies multiple network threat protection plus unmatched performance compared to competing internet security offerings.

Awards
He is a Life-Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He received an IEEE Centennial Medal in 1984. He was awarded the Bliss Medal by the Society of American Military Engineers in 1985. He received the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society's Anthony J. Hornfeck Outstanding Service Award in 1986, was named IEEE Region III (U. S. Southeastern Region) Outstanding Engineering Educator in 1989. In 1991 he received a Meritorious Service Citation from the IEEE Educational Activities Board, the 1991 Eugene Mittelmann Achievement Award from the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, and the 1991 Achievement Award from the IEEE Education Society. In 1992, he was named a Distinguished Auburn Engineer. In 1993, he received the IEEE Education Society's McGraw Hill/Jacob Millman Award, and in 1998 he was the recipient of the IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award. In 2000, he received an IEEE Third Millennium Medal and the IEEE Richard M. Emberson Award. In 2001, he received the American Society for Engineering Education's (ASEE) ECE Distinguished Educator Award.. He was made an Honorary Professor, Institute for Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China in 2004. In 2005, he received the IEEE Education Society's Meritorious Service Award. In 2006, he received the IEEE Educational Activities Board Vice President's Recognition Award, and in 2007 he was given the Auburn University Presidential Award for Excellence. In addition, he is a member of the following honor societies: Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, Pi Mu Epsilon, and Omicron Delta Kappa.