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Two Electrical Engineering Professors Named IEEE Fellows


January 06, 2007 — Two faculty from the USC Viterbi School’s Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, Urbashi Mitra and Antonio Ortega, have been elected Fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Urbashi Mitra


Mitra, a professor of electrical engineering, is a recognized authority on multiuser mobile and personal communications, sensor networks, and ultrawideband systems.  She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of California at Berkeleyand her Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Ortega, also a professor of electrical engineering, is noted for his outstanding work in signal compression theory and applications, particularly for the integration of compression and network technology for efficient, high-quality transmission of multimedia information over the Internet.  He received the telecommunications engineering degree from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid and his Ph.D. from Columbia University.

“Their election is a recognition of their stature in the communications and signal processing technical communities,” said Alexander “Sandy” Sawchuk, chair of the Hsieh Department’s Systems Division.  “This is an outstanding achievement for both Urbashi and Antonio, and I heartily congratulate both.”
Antonio Ortega


The IEEE Fellow title honors people with outstanding professional and technical achievements in the broad fields of electrical engineering.  IEEE is the leading technical organization in these fields, with 39 professional societies and a family of publications totaling 128 transactions, journals and magazines which represent a wide spectrum of technical interests.  The organization was established in 1884 and today has approximately 365,000 members in more than 150 countries.