John A. Copeland

Biography

Dr. John A. Copeland received the 1970 IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award "For the discovery of the limited space-charge accumulation mode of oscillation."

Copeland earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in Physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He began his career at Bell Labs in 1965, where he researched semi-conductor microwave and millimeter-wave devices, magnetic bubble computer memories, and lightwave communications and optical logic devices. In 1974, he supervised a team that developed CMOS integrated circuits and was responsible for creating Bell Labs' first microprocessor, the BELLMAC-8. In 1982, Copeland left Bell Labs and joined Sangamo Weston, Inc. Here, he served as Vice President of Engineering Technology and supervised R&D groups within 10 divisions. Copeland joined Hayes Microcomputer Products in 1985 and worked as the company's Vice President of Technology. While at Hayes, Copeland supervised the development of modems with data compression and error control. He remained at Hayes until 1993, when he joined the faculty of Georgia Tech.

Copeland is currently the John H. Weitnauer, Jr. Chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. He is also a GRA Eminent Scholar and the director of Communications Systems Center. Copeland's current research interests include computer communication networks, digital CATV networks, and computer architecture and operating Systems.

Besides the Liebmann Award, Copeland has received numerous awards and distinctions. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, holds 38 patents and has authored nearly 70 technical papers. He is also a past editor of the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, and served on the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Tech Research Corporation (1983-1993).