PULLMAN, Wash. – John Schneider, associate professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has been named a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He was recognized for contributions to the field of computational electromagnetics. His research entails the application and enhancement of a technique, the finite-difference time-domain method, which is used in disciplines ranging from physics to engineering to medicine. For example, it has been used with patient-specific microwave treatment of cancer, to study cell phone electromagnetic energy coupling to the human body and as a design tool for a host of electrical devices, such as RF ID tags used throughout the retail industry and antennas used on satellites.
The IEEE Board of Directors confers the grade of fellow on researchers with outstanding accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. It is the highest grade of membership and is recognized by the technical community as a prestigious honor and important career achievement.
With Washington State University since 1991, Schneider conducts research in the areas of acoustics, optics and electromagnetics; wave propagation and scattering; computer solutions to electromagnetic and acoustic problems; and remote sensing. He has received outstanding teaching and research awards from the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and was recipient of a prestigious U.S. Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from Tulane University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Washington in electrical engineering.
The IEEE includes 400,000 members in 160 countries. It is a leading authority on a wide variety of areas, ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics. The number of fellows elected in a given year does not exceed one-tenth of 1 percent of the voting membership. Schneider was one of 298 members named IEEE fellows for 2013.