William H. Huggins
- Birthplace
- Rupert, ID, USA
- Death date
- 2001/08/11
- Associated organizations
- John Hopkins University
- Fields of study
- Computing
- Awards
- IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal
Biography
William H. Huggins received the 1966 IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal. He served on Johns Hopkins faculty in the department of electrical engineering from 1954-1984. His early research centered on the theory of signals and systems and electrical circuit theory. Colleagues and administrators remembered him most for his pedagogical contributions. As early as the 1960s, Huggins championed the use of computers as teaching tools.
Huggins was born in Rupert, Idaho. He earned his bachelor's (1941) and master's (1942) degrees in electrical engineering from Oregon State University. Two years after receiving his master's degree, he joined Harvard University's Radio Research Laboratory. Huggins then decided to pursue his doctorate in electrical engineering, which he received from MIT in 1953.
He then resumed his teaching career with his appointment as Professor of Electrical Engineering at The Johns Hopkins University in 1954. In the same year the Air Force recognized his contributions during his tenure at the Cambridge Air Force Research Center by the Award of the Air Force Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service. The extraordinary nature of his immersion in the academic life and his impact on students and faculty was early recognized and was emphasized by his attaining, in 1961, the chair of Westinghouse Professor of Electrical Engineering at Johns Hopkins.
At Johns Hopkins he teaches at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. His success in the classroom was recognized by his selection to share the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1961 (the first time this award. was ever made at Johns Hopkins). He was further recognized by the Western Electric Fund Award for Excellence in Instruction of Engineering Students at the Middle Atlantic Section Meeting of the American Society of Engineering Education in 1965.
Huggins was an IEEE Fellow. Outside of the laboratory and the classroom, Huggins was an accomplished piano player. He even kept a wooden clavichord in his office. Huggins died on August 11, 2001 in Idaho Falls, Idaho at the age of 82.
