Umesh Mishra, professor in the UCSB College of Engineering’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, has received the 2017 Distinguished Educator Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (IEEE MTT-S).

IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization for the advancement of technology. The Distinguished Educator Award recognizes an 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 dedicated his life to serving MTT-S and the students who study it.

“It is an honor to receive an educator award, since teaching is our primary business,” Mishra said. “We do research not only for the sake of research, but also as a means to educate, otherwise, we’d only have professional engineers working in our labs. Research is a means to a good education, so while it is thrilling to be recognized for doing good research, I feel very honored, humbled, and happy to receive this teaching award. It also makes me think of the many people in our department who deserve this as much or more than I do.” 

Over the past twenty years, Mishra has played a key role in collaborative research that has led to multiple breakthroughs in LEDs at UCSB’s Solid State Lighting & Energy Electronics Center, as well as in microwave and power electronics, often as part of projects funded by the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and the Office of Naval Research. He is currently focused on increasing the efficiency of electronics having applications in the booming electric-vehicle industry, microwave, RADAR and communications, and the emerging Internet of Things.