UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A College of Communications faculty member is this year's winner of the Meharoo Jussawala Prize, awarded to the top research paper at the annual convention of the Pacific Telecommunications Council.

The paper, titled "A Broadband Bridge for the Disability Divide," was authored by Krishna Jayakar, an associate professor in the Department of Telecommunications. Along with Jayakar, other authors on the paper were Gary Madden of Curtin University in Australia, Chun Liu of Southwest Jiaotong University in China and Eun-A Park of the University of New Haven.

The award will be presented at the annual convention, scheduled for Jan. 20 to 23 in Hawaii. The prize includes an honorarium and an all-expenses-paid trip to the convention.

“I feel particularly touched to receive this award named after Dr. Jussawala, a pioneering telecommunications scholar who passed away earlier this year after a career spanning more than 50 years,” Jayakar said.

Jayakar has published extensively on universal telecommunications access for disadvantaged communities such as minorities and the poor, most recently focusing on broadband access for persons with disabilities.

An award-winning teacher, Jayakar teaches telecommunications management and media economics in the College of Communications. In 2004, he earned the Deans’ Excellence Award for Integrated Scholarship and in 2002 he received the Deans’ Excellence Award for Teaching.