IEEE Honors Global Dream Team of Innovators
Meet the recipients of the 2026 IEEE Medals—the organization’s highest-level honors. Presented on behalf of the IEEE Board of Directors, these medals recognize innovators whose work has shaped modern technology across disciplines including AI, education, and semiconductors.
The medals will be presented at the IEEE Honors Ceremony in April in New York City. View the full list of 2026 recipients on the IEEE Awards website, and follow IEEE Awards on LinkedIn for news and updates.
IEEE MEDAL OF HONOR
__Sponsor:__IEEE
Jensen Huang
Nvidia
Santa Clara, Calif.
“For leadership in the development of graphics processing units and their application to scientific computing and artificial intelligence.”
IEEE FRANCES E. ALLEN MEDAL
__Sponsor:__IBM
Luis von Ahn
Duolingo
Pittsburgh
“For contributions to the advancement of societal improvement and education through innovative technology.”
IEEE ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL MEDAL
__Sponsor:__Nokia Bell Labs __
Scott J. Shenker
University of California, Berkeley
“For contributions to Internet architecture, network resource allocation, and software-defined networking.”
IEEE JAGADISH CHANDRA BOSE MEDAL IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS
Sponsor: Mani L. Bhaumik
Co-recipients: Erik Dahlman Stefan Parkvall Johan Sköld
Ericsson
Stockholm
“For contributions to and leadership in the research, development, and standardization of cellular wireless communications.”
IEEE MILDRED DRESSELHAUS MEDAL
__Sponsor:____Google
Karen Ann Panetta
Tufts University
Medford, Mass.
“For contributions to computer vision and simulation algorithms, and for leadership in developing programs to promote STEM careers.”
IEEE EDISON MEDAL
__Sponsor:____The Edison Medal Fund
[Eric Swanson
](https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-swanson-93485614/)[PIXCEL Inc.
“For pioneering contributions to biomedical imaging, terrestrial optical communications and networking, and inter-satellite optical links.”
IEEE MEDAL FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND SAFETY TECHNOLOGIES
__Sponsor:____Toyota Motor Corp .
Wei-Jen Lee
University of Texas at Arlington
“For contributions to advancing electrical safety in the workplace, integrating renewable energy and grid modernization for climate change mitigation.”
IEEE FOUNDERS MEDAL
__Sponsor:____IEEE Foundation
Marian Rogers Croak
Reston, Va.
“For leadership in communication networks, including acceleration of digital equity, responsible Artificial Intelligence, and the promotion of diversity and inclusion.”
IEEE RICHARD W. HAMMING MEDAL
__Sponsor:__Qualcomm, Inc.
Muriel Médard
MIT
“For contributions to coding for reliable communications and networking.”
IEEE NICK HOLONYAK, JR. MEDAL FOR SEMICONDUCTOR OPTOELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGIES
Sponsor: Friends of Nick Holonyak, Jr.
Steven P. DenBaars
University of California, Santa Barbara
“For seminal contributions to compound semiconductor optoelectronics, including high-efficiency visible light-emitting diodes, lasers, and LED displays.”
IEEE MEDAL FOR INNOVATIONS IN HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGY
__Sponsor:____IEEE Engineering Medicine and Biology Society
Rosalind W. Picard
MIT
“For pioneering contributions to wearable affective computing for health and wellbeing.”
IEEE JACK S. KILBY SIGNAL PROCESSING MEDAL
__Sponsor:__Apple
Biing-Hwang “Fred” Juang
Georgia Tech
“For contributions to signal modeling, coding, and recognition for speech communication.”
IEEE/RSE JAMES CLERK MAXWELL MEDAL
__Sponsor:__ARM, Ltd.
Paul B. Corkum
University of Ottawa
“For the development of the recollision model for strong field light–matter interactions leading to the field of attosecond science.”
IEEE JAMES H. MULLIGAN, JR. EDUCATION MEDAL
__Sponsor:__IEEE Life Members Fund and __MathWorks __ James H. McClellan
Georgia Tech
“For fundamental contributions to electrical and computer engineering education through innovative digital signal processing curriculum development.”
IEEE JUN-ICHI NISHIZAWA MEDAL
Sponsor: IEEE Jun-ichi Nishizawa Medal Fund
Eric R. Fossum
[Dartmouth College
](https://home.dartmouth.edu/)Hanover, N.H.
“For the invention, development, and commercialization of the CMOS image sensor.”
IEEE ROBERT N. NOYCE MEDAL
__Sponsor:__Intel Corp.
Chris Malachowsky
Nvidia
Santa Clara, Calif.
“For pioneering parallel computing architectures and leadership in semiconductor design that transformed artificial intelligence, scientific research, and accelerated computing.”
IEEE DENNIS J. PICARD MEDAL FOR RADAR TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS
__Sponsor:__RTX
Yoshio Yamaguchi
Niigata University
Japan
“For contributions to polarimetric synthetic aperture radar imaging and its utilization.”
IEEE MEDAL IN POWER ENGINEERING
__Sponsors:____IEEE Industry Applications,____Industrial Electronics,__Power Electronics , and Power & Energy societies
Fang Zheng Peng
University of Pittsburgh
“For contributions to Z-Source and modular multi-level converters for distribution and transmission networks.”
IEEE SIMON RAMO MEDAL
__Sponsor:__Northrop Grumman Corp.
Michael D. Griffin
LogiQ, Inc.
Arlington, Va.
“For leadership in national security, civil, and commercial systems engineering and development of elegant design principles.”
IEEE JOHN VON NEUMANN MEDAL
__Sponsor:____IBM
Donald D. Chamberlin
IBM
San Jose, Calif.
“For contributions to database query languages, particularly Structured Query Language, which powers most of the world’s data management and analysis systems.”
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