Dr. R. J. Soukup, Henson Professor of Electrical Engineering

Dr. R. J. Soukup, Henson Professor of Electrical Engineering, was awarded the prestigious 2005 Meritorious Service Award from the Education Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers at the Frontiers in Education Conference in Indianapolis, IN on Friday, October 24, 2005. His plaque reads "For meritorious service to the Education Society, for service as Treasurer, and for mentoring many members of the society."

The awards brochure lists his accomplishments and services more completely. It states:

Rodney J. Soukup is currently Henson Professor of Electrical Engineering, an honor he received on July 1, 1998. He received the B.S., M.S.E.E., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota. After receiving the Ph.D. degree in 1969, Dr. Soukup went to work at Sperry Rand Univac in St. Paul, MN where he worked for three years on thin film hybrid microelectronic circuits and thin film devices. He began his academic career in 1972 at the University of Iowa as an Assistant Professor. He moved to the University of Nebraska in 1976 as an Associate Professor and was promoted to Professor in 1980. He became Department Chairman in 1978, a position he held until June 30, 2000.

Rod is a past President of the National Electrical Engineering Department Heads Association (NEEDHA, now ECEDHA) and of the Central States Electrical Engineering Department Heads Association (CSEEDHA), past Chairman of the IEEE Education Society Millman Awards Committee and of the ASEE Terman Awards Committee. He was also an Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) reviewer. He was elected Fellow of the IEEE in 1993. In 1998 he won the NEEDHA Outstanding Service Award and, in 2000, the CSEEDHA Outstanding Service Award.

Dr. Soukup was elected Treasurer of the IEEE Education Society in 1998 and re-elected the following five years. Prior to that he was appointed as a member of the IEEE Education Society Administrative Committee in 1991 and elected to a three year term in 1992. Additional IEEE activities include being a representative of the IEEE Education Society to the IEEE Defense R&D Committee in 1988 and serving as a member of the IEEE Educational Activities Board, 1991 to 1992.

His current research interests are in thin film semiconductor alloys (Si-Ge, Ge-C, Si-C-Ge) for solar cells and other electro-optic applications and BaSrTiO 3 for tunable antenna applications, all deposited using a unique hollow cathode deposition technique.