Former Berkeley Dean of Engineering David A. Hodges Dies at 85

IEEE also remembers the lives and legacies of other members

5 min read

David A. Hodges

Former dean of engineering

Life Fellow, 85; died 13 November

Hodges, who was dean of engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, conducted pioneering research in IC design and semiconductor manufacturing. He coauthored the Analysis and Design of Digital Integrated Circuits textbook, which was used by universities around the world.

An active IEEE volunteer, Hodges served in several leadership roles including 2007 vice chair and 2009-2010 chair of the IEEE Awards Board and 2011–2012 vice president of the IEEE Publication Services and Products Board. Under his leadership, the latter board celebrated milestones including the launch of IEEE’s first multidisciplinary open-access publication, IEEE Access; the creation of a Chinese-language edition of IEEE Spectrum; and the 100th anniversary of Proceedings of the IEEE.

Hodges was the founding editor of IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing, and he served as editor of the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

He was largely responsible for moving the International Solid-State Circuits Conference in 1978 from Philadelphia to San Francisco.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1960 from Cornell, Hodges joined Bell Labs in Holmdel, N.J. There he conducted research on ICs for communications and saw the potential of metal-oxide semiconductors. He predicted that the technology would ensure the continuation of Moore’s Law. Compared with bipolar junction transistors, which were predominant in ICs then, MOS transistors are easier to scale and consume less power. Hodges and his colleagues pioneered the use of MOS technology in ICs.

Hodges continued that line of research at UC Berkeley, which he joined in 1970 as a professor of engineering. He helped develop MOS analog-to-digital converters, expanding the use of the technology to industries including communications, signal processing, environmental sensing, and semiconductors.

In 1983 he helped found the university’s Microfabrication Research Facility, known as Microfab. The facility was renamed the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory in 2010.

Hodges became dean of UC Berkeley’s engineering college in 1990. In the six years he worked in the position, he established a team to better manage external relations and completed fundraising for the engineering department’s Soda Hall, a classroom building. He also laid the groundwork for the university’s bioengineering department. He retired as professor emeritus in 1998.

Known as a committed educator, Hodges supervised 27 doctoral students during his time at Berkeley.

In 1988 he helped write Analysis and Design of Digital Integrated Circuits.

He was inducted into the Silicon Valley Hall of Fame in 2013. He received several IEEE awards including the 1997 IEEE James H. Mulligan Jr. Education Medal, a top-level IEEE medal administered by the Awards Board and presented on behalf of the Board of Directors, and the 1983 IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award for pioneering work on switched-capacitor circuits.

Hodges, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, earned master’s and doctoral degrees in EE from Berkeley in 1961 and 1966, respectively.

Peter Bao-Sen Luh

Professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut

Life Fellow, 71; died 28 November

Luh was a professor of electrical and systems engineering at the University of Connecticut in Storrs from 1980 to 2020.

He was an active IEEE volunteer and served as editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation from 1999 to 2003 and of IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering from 2003 to 2007. He helped found the IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering. He also served as the 2018–2019 chair of the IEEE Technical Activities Board periodicals committee. In addition, he served on The Institute’s Editorial Advisory Board.

Luh was the head of UConn’s engineering department from 2006 to 2009. He also served as director of the university’s Booth Engineering Center for Advanced Technology, which assists faculty and students conducting interdisciplinary research.

He retired in 2020 as professor emeritus.

He received the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society’s 2013 Pioneer Award for “contributions to the development of near-optimal and efficient planning, scheduling, and coordination methodologies for manufacturing and power systems.”

Luh enjoyed spending time with his family, traveling, and attending UConn Huskies basketball games. He was an active member of UConn’s Chinese bible study group for more than 40 years.

He received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1973 from National Taiwan University in New Taipei. He earned a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics in 1977 from MIT and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics in 1980 from Harvard.

Raymond Kowalchuk

Electrical engineer

Life member, 87; died 8 November

Kowalchuk was a senior staff consultant at AEL Industries (now part of BAE Systems), in Colmar, Pa., for 37 years. During his time at AEL, he helped develop biomedical electronics, cable TV systems, antimissile warning receivers, emergency beacons for NASA, and surveillance systems for U.S. intelligence agencies and law enforcement.

Later in his career, he consulted for the General Instruments Consortium and Motorola in the development and testing of two-way cable equipment for pay-per-view and on-demand television. He supervised the installation of the equipment by more than 150 cable systems in the United States.

In his free time, he was a musician and a tinkerer. He played the trumpet and the French horn, and he enjoyed repairing radios, televisions, and other electronics.

He was a member of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society and the Audio Engineering Society.

Donald Norton Ewart

Power systems engineer

Life Fellow, 92; died 7 November

Ewart was a registered professional engineer in New York and Massachusetts who specialized in interconnected power systems. He consulted on large-scale power generation and delivery, helping bring electricity to neighborhoods in more than 60 countries during his career.

After serving as first lieutenant at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Greene County, Ohio, in the 1950s, Ewart joined General Electric in Pittsfield, Mass., as an engineer. He transferred in 1960 to GE’s utility systems engineering department in Schenectady, N.Y. In 1969 he was promoted to manager of systems dynamics and control. Eight years later, he became manager of systems engineering.

In that latter role, he made several contributions to the advancement of large interconnected power systems.

Ewart left GE in 1980 and joined the Electric Power Research Institute’s High Voltage Transmission Research Center, in Lenox, Mass., as manager of transmission and distribution. In 1987 he left to become manager of consulting services at Power Technology Inc. (now part of Siemens), in Schenectady, where he spent the remainder of his career.

He was a member of the IEEE Power & Energy Society.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1954 from Cornell, he earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Union College, in Schenectady.

Turgut Meydan

Magnetics researcher

Member, 65; died 22 August

At Cardiff University’s Wolfson Centre for Magnetics research group, in Wales, Meydan was a reader: a senior academic with a distinguished international reputation.

He joined Cardiff in 1984 and spent his entire career there, researching, teaching, and advising graduate students.

“Turgut was always keen to help others, especially his students when they were going through difficult times,” said Jianzhong Wu, head of Cardiff’s engineering school. “Over the past 10 years, he organized the magnetics group Christmas dinner, which helped strengthen social bonds between academic staff and students. He also built a strong relationship between the magnetics group at Cardiff and other such groups worldwide. He was an asset to the magnetics community and will be sorely missed.”

Meydan served as chair of the 2003 Seminar on Sensors and Actuators, held by the IEEE United Kingdom and Ireland Section’s chapter of the IEEE Magnetics Society. The next year he chaired the 2004 European Magnetic Sensors and Actuators Conference.

“Turgut loved his job as a researcher and teacher, and devoted his life to it,” said his wife, Gamze Meydan. “I hope he will be remembered fondly as a magnetics scientist, IEEE member, and a diligent academic.”

Ian Macfarlane

Life senior member, 85; died 20 May

Macfarlane died unexpectedly in his sleep from cardiac arrest.

He was interested in politics, conservation, animal welfare, new technologies, and music. He is greatly missed by his family and friends, said Jennifer Macfarlane, his daughter.

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