Electronics Prof Lauded for Contributions

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has named longtime UT Dallas faculty member Cy Cantrell a Life Fellow in honor of his long association with the organization and his support for its wide-ranging activities.

“This recognition is richly deserved, honoring Cy Cantrell’s decades of service as an active member in the world’s leading professional organization for electrical engineers,” said Mark Spong, dean of the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at UT Dallas.

Dr. Cantrell joined IEEE in 1974 while working at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. He was named an IEEE fellow – one of the organization’s highest honors – just 11 years later in recognition of “contributions to laser isotope separation through advancing the understanding of spectroscopy and coherent excitation of polyatomic molecules.”

Dr. Cantrell has made enormous contributions over the years to the fields of quantum electronics, applied optics and photonics. Today he is associate dean of academic affairs in the Jonsson School and director of the school’s Photonic Technology and Engineering Center, or PhoTEC.

“IEEE membership has been a fundamental part of my career,” he said. “It’s opened many doors for me both in terms of making contacts and in establishing legitimacy in the international community.”

Before joining UTD in 1980, Dr. Cantrell spent six years at Los Alamos, and prior to that he taught at Swarthmore College. He’s responsible for establishing chapters of the IEEE Laser and Electro-Optics Society in both Los Alamos and Dallas, and last year he acted as technical program chair for the annual IEEE International Symposium on Consumer Electronics.

IEEE is the professional organization and standards-setting authority for a wide range of high-tech fields within electrical and electronics engineering, including aerospace and automotive systems, computer engineering, telecommunications, control systems, signal processing, biomedical engineering and consumer electronics.