IEEE Awards & Recognition

Since IEEE was formed in 1963 after the merger of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) and Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE), awards, Recognitions, and honors have remained important to IEEE's culture, setting high standards and recognizing dedication that advances technology for the benefit of humanity.

The IEEE Medal of Honor, IEEE's most prestigious award, predates the institute’s beginning. Since 1917, it has symbolized exceptional commitment and ingenuity.

Eleven members of IEEE, IRE, or AIEE have held both a Nobel Prize and an IEEE Medal of Honor. English physicist Sir Edward V. Appleton began his quest with radio-wave experiments that documented the ionosphere and other atmospheric layers. Named a Nobel laureate in 1947, he took the Medal as an IRE member in 1962.

The Medal of Honor was designated IEEE’s highest Award after its merger with IRE and AIEE. IEEE also adopted the AIEE top honor, the Edison Medal, electrical engineering’s oldest award named for Thomas Alva Edison.

IEEE’s Board of Directors announced the Alexander Graham Bell Medal to commemorate the telephone's 100th birthday. John R. Pierce of Bell Telephone Labs first received this telecommunications merit. 

IEEE Life Fellow Roger Brockett received the IEEE Control Systems Award. The honor celebrated the late renowned researcher and educator’s pioneering advancements in nonlinear control, stability, robotics, and control-engineering education. In 2026, IEEE will rename the award the IEEE Roger W. Brockett Control Systems Award for this technology pioneer.

IEEE’s Robert N. Noyce Medal honored the respected Intel Corporation cofounder and integrated-circuit inventor. IEEE Fellow Lisa Su, president and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), would break the “Silicon Ceiling” earning it in 2021.

Andrew J. Viterbi, the brain behind the Viterbi Algorithm and cofounder of Qualcomm Incorporated, took honors for his multipurpose coders and decoders used in disk drives, MP3 players, deep-space image transmitters, and modern mobile phones. 

The IEEE Marie Skłodowska-Curie Award was created in 2008 to recognize key contributions to nuclear and plasma sciences and engineering. Not granted until 2011, this IEEE Technical Field Award first went to inventor and educator Charles Kennedy (Ned) Birdsall for his “fundamental discoveries involving microwave tubes, electron beam physics, and particle-in-cell simulation of plasma physics.”

Mildred Dresselhaus, the “Carbon Queen” who blazed trails for women in science and engineering, became the first woman ever to win IEEE’s Medal of Honor. The IEEE Mildred Dresselhaus Medal was announced in 2019, named for the late graphite and carbon-based materials researcher who brought nanotechnology to the forefront. 

The IEEE Theodore W. Hissey Outstanding Young Professional Award was introduced to recognize members in initial career stages. Hissey, known as “Uncle Ted,” was an IEEE Life Fellow and Director Emeritus. He mentored younger people for 60 years.

IEEE Life Fellow Kurt Petersen saw an ink stain on an IBM facility floor and found inspiration to start creating silicon MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) technologies—including devices that screen every letter mailed in the United States for toxic anthrax.

The IEEE Jagadish Chandra Bose Medal in Wireless Communications rewards ingenuity with worldwide impact. The 2025 medal went to Seizo Onoe of the Geneva, Switzerland-based International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for his mobile ecosystem and 4G network impact.

In 2025, the IEEE Medal of Honor honorarium increased to US$2 million, to be shared equally among one to three recipients. The award eclipses any other in engineering and technology—with compensation intended to significantly impact recipients’ work.