Newswise — The University of California, San Diego today announced that Ramesh Rao has been appointed the first holder of the QUALCOMM Endowed Chair in Telecommunications and Information Technologies in the university's Jacobs School of Engineering. Rao is an electrical and computer engineering professor in the School, and directs the San Diego division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology [Cal-(IT)2].
"Ramesh Rao is distinguished not only as an academic and expert in wireless communications, but also as the driving force behind new research and education projects," said Frieder Seible, Dean of the Jacobs School. "QUALCOMM's generosity in endowing this chair is an investment in Professor Rao as well as the many students, researchers and technologies that he will have a hand in shaping for years to come."
The new chair -- the twenty-first at the Jacobs School -- is one of five endowed chairs provided by QUALCOMM through its $15 million corporate commitment to Cal-(IT)2, a partnership of UCSD and UC Irvine. Under that commitment, four other endowed chairs have been created, of which two have already been filled: Jacobs School computer science and engineering professor Rajesh Gupta holds the QUALCOMM Endowed Chair in Embedded Microsystems; and Peter Cowhey, Dean of the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS), assumed the QUALCOMM Endowed Chair in Communications and Technology Policy.
"Endowed chairs make it possible for UCSD to attract and retain faculty of the highest caliber," said Dr. Irwin Mark Jacobs, chairman and CEO of QUALCOMM. "Engineering students do benefit greatly from interaction with noted faculty, such as Professor Rao, who have achieved distinguished careers in theory and in applied technology. We are pleased to support Professor Rao's commitment to make UCSD an even stronger source of world-class technology leaders."
"This endowed chair is further evidence of QUALCOMM's deep and continuing commitment to this institute and its interdisciplinary mission," said Cal-(IT)2 director Larry Smarr, who holds the Harry E. Gruber Chair in Computer Science and Information Technologies. "It has been an honor to work with Professor Rao in bringing up Cal-(IT)2 at UCSD from scratch. He has set a high standard for interdisciplinary education and research, across UCSD departments, between UCSD and UCI, as well as with industry. I totally rely on his can-do attitude to form innovative collaborative teams and Living Laboratories."
In his Cal-(IT)2 role, Rao runs the institute's operations on the UCSD campus, and is a principal investigator on several major multi-disciplinary projects announced in the past year. They include the National Science Foundation-funded RESCUE (Responding to Crises and Unexpected Events) project, as well as two initiatives funded by the National Institutes of Health: WIISARD (Wireless Internet Information System for Medical Response in Disasters), and StrokeDoc (Multimedia Telemedical Diagnostic System), which harnesses high-speed, multimedia delivery to allow specialists to examine possible stroke victims remotely, to determine whether they are candidates for a drug therapy that can limit the lasting damage from a stroke.
Rao joined UCSD in 1984, after receiving his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to joining Cal-(IT)2 in 2001, Rao was the director of UCSD's Center for Wireless Communications (CWC). His research covers areas including energy-efficient communications as well as protocols for wireless channels to support mobile multimedia users.
About QUALCOMM
QUALCOMM Incorporated (www.qualcomm.com) is a leaders in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on the Company's CDMA digital technology. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a 2003 FORTUNE 500® company traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol QCOM.
About Cal-(IT)2
The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (http://www.calit2.net) is one of four institutes created by the State in late 2000 to ensure that California maintain its leadership in cutting-edge technologies. Cal-(IT)2'smission: to extend the reach of the current information infrastructure throughout the physical world, enabling anywhere/anytime access to the Internet. More than 220 professors and senior researchers from UC Irvine and UC San Diego are collaborating on interdisciplinary projects.
Note to Editors: A high-resolution photo of Ramesh Rao can be downloaded from the Image Gallery at http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news_events/gallery/.
Related Links
Cal-(IT)2 http://www.calit2.netJacobs School of Engineering http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.eduQUALCOMM Incorporated http://www.qualcomm.comCenter for Wireless Communications http://cwc.ucsd.edu/IR/PS http://irps.ucsd.edu/Ramesh Rao Home Page http://cwc.ucsd.edu/~rao/
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