Archives:Profiles in Engineering Leadership: Eta Kappa Nu's First Century Eminent Members

Abstract

2004 marks the 100th anniversary of Eta Kappa Nu. During its first century over 100 electrical and computer engineering leaders wereelected to its highest grade: Eminent Member.

This book is intended as an inspirational history for electrical and computer engineering students and young electrical and computer engineers. Its purpose is to demonstrate how those profiled provided outstanding leadership in one or more of several areas: invention, education, professional society activities, government service, and the corporate world.

Among those included are Nobel Laureates Charles Townsend, Jack Kilby, and John Bardeen; pioneers Lee de Forest and Vladimir Zworykin; IEEE leaders Donald Glen Fink, Richard Gowen, and Jerome J. Suran; corporate founders William Hewlett and Simon Ramo; and leaders in government Vannevar Bush and Jerome Wiesner, to name but a few.

We are indebted to the IEEE Foundation for its generous support of this project, and to Frederik Nebeker, Senior Research Historian at the IEEE Center for the History of Electrical Engineering, who oversaw the research and writing of the book. Others who graciously provided supplemental material, read copy, or otherwise assisted include Berthold Sheffield, Larry Dwon, Eric Herz, Ronald A. Spanke, Jutta Willmann, Nancy T. Hantman, and Donald Christiansen.

Karl Martersteck

President, Eta Kappa Nu

Citation and Link

Gregory Swedburg, Profiles in Engineering Leadership:Eta Kappa Nu's First Century Eminent Members, (New Brunswick, NJ: IEEE History Center & Eta Kappa Nu Association, 2004)

Profiles in Engineering Leadership: Eta Kappa Nu's First Century Eminent Members