Eta Kappa Nu Awards Outstanding Teacher Awards to Naeemi and Krishna

On April 28, 2023, Azad Naeemi and Tushar Krishna were celebrated as the recipients of this year's Eta Kappa Nu (IEEE-HKN) Outstanding Teacher Awards.

HKN award recipients are determined by a majority vote of the graduating class of the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) undergraduate program. They recognize the central and crucial role of professors in training and motivating future electrical, computer and allied field student engineers.

Professor Naeemi received this year’s W. Marshall Leach/Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Senior Teacher Award. Naeemi’s research crosses the boundaries of materials, devices, circuits, and systems investigating integrated circuits based on conventional and emerging nanoelectronic and spintronic devices and interconnects.

He holds the distinction of being the inaugural recipient of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society (SSCS) James D. Meindl Innovators Award. He has also received accolades such as the NSF CAREER Award, SRC Inventor Recognition Award, and multiple best paper awards at international conferences.

In recognition of his innovative use of educational technology, Professor Naeemi was honored by the Institute with the Class of 1934 Outstanding Innovative Use of Education Technology Award this year. His educational tools have greatly enhanced the learning experience of students studying quantum theory and semiconductor physics/devices worldwide.

Associate Professor Krishna was awarded the Richard M. Bass/Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Junior Teacher Award. His research encompasses computer architecture, interconnection networks, networks-on-chip (NoC), and deep learning accelerators, with a particular emphasis on optimizing data movement in modern computing systems.

Krishna was inducted into the High-Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA) Hall of Fame in 2022, recognizing his significant contributions to the field. He has also been honored with the Class of 1940 Course Survey Teaching Effectiveness Award from Georgia Tech (2018) and the Roger P. Webb Outstanding Junior Faculty Award from the ECE (2021).

Naeemi and Krishna’s enduring impact on the School of ECE undergraduate program and the wider engineering community will forever be recognized with their names etched on the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Teacher Awards display in the Van Leer Building.