Academics

Narayanan recognized for excellence in teaching and education

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Ram Narayanan, professor of electrical engineering in the College of Engineering at Penn State, has been named the 2017 recipient of the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) Students’ Journal Award.

IETE is India's leading recognized professional society devoted to the advancement of science, technology, electronics, telecommunications and information technology.

“The award is cherished by me as this is specifically given to me for teaching and education,” said Narayanan. “The IETE Journal of Education seeks to provide student readers with articles that enhance their education beyond the classroom material, and I feel honored that my paper was recognized as one that satisfied the journal's objectives.”

Narayanan’s paper, “Sources and Reduction of Noise in Circuits and Systems,” which appeared in IETE Journal of Education, July–December 2016, discusses how and where noise can enter electronic systems and how one can combat its effects.

“Noise appears in electronic systems in the form of interference and it can cause erroneous readings or triggers,” explained Narayanan. “There are many ways in which noise can enter electronic systems and the designer must be aware of these sources and institute proper design approaches to suppress the effects of noise.”

Prior to joining Penn State in 2003, Narayanan worked as a design and development engineer at Bharat Electronics in Ghaziabad, India. He later joined the electrical engineering department at the University of Nebraska, where he served as Blackman & Lederer Chaired Professor of Electrical Engineering. He has been working in the area of radar system development, radar remote sensing applications, image analysis, and antenna characterization for more than 20 years. His major research accomplishments include the development of high-resolution imaging using random noise radar; mid-infrared laser remote sensing technology; and ground-penetrating radar for transportation infrastructure assessment, as well as the characterization of information content in remotely sensed images. He has published more than 130 papers in refereed journals and presented more than 350 conference papers.

His honors and awards include the Penn State Engineering Alumni Society’s 2013 Outstanding Research Award, the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society’s 2003 Outstanding Service Award, and the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society’s 2017 Warren White Award for Excellence in Radar Engineering. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, SPIE, and IETE.

Electrical engineering professor Ram Narayanan. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

Last Updated November 1, 2017