Lucent chief scientist Arun Netravali, renowned innovator, honored by Technology Management Education Association

The Technology Management Education Association (TMEDA) is a unique group of Technology Management professionals from both academia and industry with a common interest in sharing thoughts and ideas for advancing the field. Last week, in a luncheon hosted at Stevens Institute of Technology, TMEDA officials recognized the accomplishments of Dr. Arun Netravali, former president of Bell Labs and chief scientist at Lucent Technologies.

In 2002, Netravali received the US National Medal of Technology from President George W. Bush in a ceremony at the White House. The National Medal of Technology is the highest honor awarded by the President of the United States for technological innovation.

During the luncheon and plaque presentation at Stevens, Jerry MacArthur Hultin, dean of the Howe School of Technology Management at Stevens and chairman of the TMEDA Board of Directors, lauded Netravali with a comparison to another New Jersey innovator.

"Like Edison, Arun Netravali has looked for places in life where technology innovation could really make a difference," said Hultin. "People like Arun seek to take us from the candle of current technologies to the lightbulb of future systems that illuminate the landscape and make life better for us all."

Stevens' President, Dr. Harold J. Raveche, added: "Looking at the computer science literature and the mathematics literature, Arun has made some very fundamental contributions, in algorithms and compression technology, and ray tracing techniques - which have fundamentally impacted television cameras, models of human vision, and HDTV. And he did all this when Bell Labs was at the very high point of its game."

Attending the luncheon were other TMEDA officers and Stevens officials: Chuck Rutledge of Quintum Technologies; Patricia Lopes, Lucent Technologies; Keith D. Kulper, Kulper & Company, LLC; Joel Adler, University of Pennsylvania; David Laughland, General Investment Enterprises; Sarah Jane Militello, Stevens Technologies; and Dr. Ted Stohr and Dr. Audrey Curtis of the Howe School.

Arun Netravali continues to work with the academic and investment communities to identify new technologies that will be relevant to Lucent's mission, and acts as an advisor to Lucent's senior management on technical and customer issues. Under Netravali's leadership, the speed with which Lucent moved its innovations from lab to market increased dramatically, as he fostered stronger partnerships between Bell Labs and Lucent's businesses, without sacrificing technical excellence.

Netravali is regarded as a pioneer in the field of digital technology and led the research and development of Bell Labs' high definition television (HDTV) effort. He has authored more than 170 technical papers and co-authored three books: Digital Picture Representation and Compression, (Plenum, 1987), Visual Communications Systems, (IEEE Press, 1989) and Digital Video: An Introduction to MPEG-2, (Chapman and Hall, 1996). He holds more than 70 patents in the areas of computer networks, human interfaces to machines, picture processing and digital television. In 2001, he also received from the Indian government the Padma Bhushan Award, the nation's third highest civilian honor.

Netravali is a member of Tau Beta Phi and Sigma Xi, a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and AAAS and a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering. For his scientific achievements, he has received numerous awards, including the Alexander Graham Bell Medal (1991) an Emmy for the HDTV Grand Alliance (1994), the Computers & Communications Prize, (1997) (NEC, Japan), the Frederik Philips Award from the IEEE (2000), the NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies in India) Medal (2000), and the Kilby Medal from the IEEE (2001).

Netravali was an adjunct professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has taught graduate courses at City College (N.Y.), Columbia University and Rutgers University. He has served on the editorial board of the IEEE, and is currently an editor of several journals. He serves on the board of a number of organizations.

He received his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India, and master's and doctoral degrees from Rice University in Houston, Texas, all in electrical engineering. He holds an honorary doctorate from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, Switzerland.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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