Conference Awards

IEEE CEIDP – Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena

IEEE ICD – International Conference on Dielectrics

Eric O. Forster Memorial Lecture, IEEE International Conference on Dielectrics (established 2018)
Description: The ‘Eric O. Forster Memorial Lecture’ is the opening plenary lecture of the biennial IEEE International Conference on Dielectrics (ICD). The lecture is organized in honor of Eric Forster. The lecture is awarded to scientists that are world-leading in terms of the originality, significance and rigor of their research in dielectrics, which is within the scope of the conference. Further, the awardee is recognized as someone with a track record of encouraging young people in the field of dielectrics, in the spirit of Eric Forster.
Prize: Biennial. Only One Allowable Recipient Selected Biennially. Recipient receives plaque and/or certificate.
Funding: Funding will come from the biennial IEEE International Conference on Dielectrics (ICD).
Eligibility: IEEE membership is not required. The conference is held in Europe, most of the Eric O. Forster lecturers have therefore been European, and ‘leading-lights’ from the European community may be preferred.
Basis for Judging: The speaker should be recognized as world-leading in terms of the originality, significance and rigor of their research, which is within the scope of the conference. It is expected that the speaker would be able to introduce her/his subject in a way that is amenable, interesting and engaging to students as well as to experienced researchers in the field. They should be able to present ideas well in English. The Awardee is selected by the ICD Board.
Presentation: The IEEE E.O. Forster Memorial Lecture will be held at the start of the IEEE International Conference on Dielectrics.

Young researchers contest (since 2024)

Since 2024, The Executive Committee of ICD, with support from the DEIS Educational Committee and from the DEIS Young Professionals Committee, has set up a Young Researchers Contest to encourage the participation of students and young researchers in the conference and in the DEIS community, and to stimulate the emergence of talented early stage researchers. Proven full-time engineering and science researchers and PhD students from academia as well as industry are encouraged to participate. Candidates must be first author of their paper and commit to present it in person to participate to this contest. An independent jury is formed for the designation of the winners, judging on best paper, best oral presentation and best poster presentation. The detailed rules for the contest are decided by the organizing committee of the edition.

Recipients of the ICD prizes

Zakhar R. Kudrynskyi	University of Nottingham, UK	2024
Patrik Ratheiser	Graz University of Technology, Austria	2024
Baptiste Robbiani	Toulouse III Paul Sabatier University, France	2024
Chinatsu Fukuda	Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan	2026
James Oxford	The University of Manchester, UK	2026
Nina Marie Thomsen	SINTEF Energy Research, Norway	2026

IEEE EIC – Electrical Insulation Conference

International Power Modulator and High Voltage Conference – Tom R. Burkes Student Awards

Kenneth J. Germeshausen Award
The Germeshausen Award was established in 1990, at the 19th Power Modulator Symposium. It is named after Kenneth J. Germeshausen, in honor of his pioneering work on thyratrons.
The award recognizes outstanding contributions in the science and technology of power modulators and related pulse power.
The award recipient will receive a plaque stating the award, a monetary award of $1,000, and recognition at the conference banquet. William G. Dunbar Award
The William G. Dunbar Award is intended to recognize individuals for continuing contributions to high voltage research, development, or testing technology and for transferring that technology to the engineering and scientific community. The award recipient will receive a plaque stating the award, a monetary award of $1,000, and recognition at the conference banquet. Sol Schneider Award
The Sol Schneider Award was established in 2004 as the Power Modulator Conference Service Award to recognize extensive service, contributions and leadership, both technically and administratively, in the power modulator field. The award recognizes both continuing contributions to power modulator research, development, and test technology, as well as the dedication to the advancement of the field through fostering the power modulator community. The award recipient will receive a plaque stating the award, a monetary award of $1,000, and recognition at the conference banquet. High Voltage Association Student Excellence Award
The “High Voltage Association Student Excellence Award” was established in May 2008 to recognize the contributions made by a graduate student in the high voltage systems and components research & technology.
The award is financially sponsored by the High Voltage Association, formed by several companies who have products and research in high voltage systems and components. The sponsorship carries an honorarium and partial reimbursement of conference/travel expenses of the student to the conference. The award was presented to a student for the first time at the 2008 Power Modulator Conference.
Nominees for the awards are expected to be current students or recent graduates (up to 18 months prior to the conference date) and be members of IEEE at the time of the award nomination/presentation. They will be expected to participate in the conference and included in the authorship of a paper or papers accepted for presentation at the conference.

Tom R. Burkes Student Awards
Two Student Awards, Exceptional Undergraduate Student Award and Outstanding Graduate Student Award, in honor of Dr. Tom R. Burkes.
Nominees for both awards must be current students or recent graduates (up to 18 months prior to the conference date) and should be members of IEEE at the time of the award presentation. They will be expected to be participants in the conference and included in the authorship of a paper or papers accepted for presentation at the conference. Recipients will receive a waived conference registration fee, a plaque stating the award, a monetary award of $500, and recognition at the conference banquet.

Recipients of Tom R. Burkes Student Awards

Kelly D. Hahn	University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA	2002
Matthew Behrend	University of Southern California, CA	2002*
Shu Xiao	Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA	2004
Matthew Behrend	University of Southern California, CA	2004*
John Krile	Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA	2006
Michael Wolf	Tel-Aviv University, Israel	2006
Daniel Weida	Helmut-Schmidt-University, Germany	2008
Kalyan Koppisetty	Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA	2008
Titus Chen	Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA	2010
Dongdong Wang	Fudan University, Shanghai, China	2010
George Laity	Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA	2012
Kevin O’Connor	University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA	2012
Andrew Fierro	Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA	2014
Hanyu Ye	Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Germany	2014
Martin Hochberg	Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany	2016
Isaac Cohen	University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, VA, USA	2016
Hongyu Dai	Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China	2018
Anton Gusev	Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russia	2018
Su-Mi Park	Chung-Ang University, South Korea	2022
Andrew Fairbanks	Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA	2022
Travis Crawford	Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA	2024
Woo-Cheol Jeong	Chung-Ang University, South Korea	2024

(*) Exceptional Undergraduate Student Award

IEEE ICDL International Conference on Dielectric Liquids

IEEE ISE International Symposium on Electrets

The Bernhard Gross Memorial Lecture, IEEE International Symposium on Electrets (ISE) (established in 2002)
Description: The lecture will be presented by a person, who, in the opinion of the Selection Committee has established an international reputation for sustained high quality research work in the ISE research field. The ISE research field is presently defined as comprising the following topics: (a) molecular electrets, especially those involving composite or novel materials, bioelectrets and photoelectrets; (b) thermally stimulated processes, radiation and field effects; (c) injection, transport and trapping of charge, polarization; (d) non-linear optics and electro-optical effects; (e) piezo-, pyro- and ferroelectric phenomena; (f) ferroelectric ceramics and thin films; (g) applications of electrets. In the future the session topics listed for the last and for the next Symposium in the ISE series may be taken as a broad definition of the ISE research field. Thus the lecture will regularly recognize, reward and stimulate high quality research in this important and constantly-evolving research field.
Prize: $1,000 and Certificate, every three years
Funding: The honorarium and cost of the production of the certificate will be covered by the ISE registration fees until a private endowment is established.
Eligibility: The nominee must have established an international reputation for sustained high quality research work in the ISE research field. There is no limitation on the time frame over which this reputation has been established, and there is no requirement for membership of learned/professional societies.
Basis for Judging: Sustained high quality research work in the ISE research field. Selection by the ISE Board
Presentation: At the Symposium Dinner. The lecture is presented immediately following the opening ceremony of each Symposium.
The Dilip Das-Gupta Memorial Award, IEEE International Symposium on Electrets (ISE) (established in 2002)
Description: The award will be given for the best oral or poster presentation by a young scientist or engineer during the Symposium. It will regularly recognize and reward high quality research in the ISE research field by a scientist or engineer in the early stages of her/his research career.
Prize: $1,000 and Certificate every three years.
Funding: The honorarium and cost of the production of the certificate will be covered by the ISE registration fees until a private endowment is established.
Eligibility: For the purposes of the award, a young scientist or engineer is defined as a scientist or engineer who has not reached the age of 35 years by the ISE commencement date. There is no requirement for membership of learned/professional societies.
Basis for Judging: The quality of the presentation, as well as that of the work on which it is based, will be considered by the ISE Selection committee. At any Symposium the award will be made only if the selection committee is satisfied that the best presentation (by a young scientist or engineer) is of a suitably high standard. Before the Symposium closing ceremony, any registered delegate may confidentially propose a winner of the award to the Symposium Chairperson. The proposal must be in writing and include a short justification. The Chairperson will pass on all such proposals to the Selection committee. Self-nominations are not allowed.
Presentation: The winner of the award will be announced during the Symposium closing ceremony.

Jean-Michel Reboul	University of Caen, France	2005
Françoise Toledo Reis	University of Sao Polo, Brazil	2005
Takashi Nakajima	Tokyo University of Science, Japan	2008
Chien Nguyen	Nanyang Technological University, Singapore	2008
Eric Dantras	University of Toulouse, France	2011
Gregorio Faria	University of Sao Polo, Brazil	2011
Tristan Putzeys	Catholic University (KU) Leuven, Leuven, Belgium	2014
Qin Chen	GE Global Research Center at New York, USA	2014
Sarah Guerin	University of Limerick, Ireland	2017
Tim Cornelissen	Linköping University, Sweden	2017
Indre Urbanaviciute	Linköping University, Sweden	2019
Tahsin Morshed	University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh	2019
Veronika Turiničová	Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia	2023
Tomohiro Sugano	Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo, Japan	2023
Qianqian Hu	Tongji University, Shanghai, China	2025
Krittish Roy	University of Limerick, Ireland	2025
Yuki Sakurai	Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo, Japan	2025

IEEE ICHVE International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Applications

IEEE ISDEIV International Symposium on Discharges and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum

Paul A. Chatterton Young Investigator Award. The Award is attributed for an outstanding achievement of a Young Investigator in the field of discharges and electrical insulation in vacuum. Sponsored by ABB Calor-Emag Schaltanlagen AG, the Paul A. Chatterton Young Investigator Award is attributed based on the quality of the paper and presentation at the Symposium. To be eligible for the Paul A. Chatterton Young Investigator Award, the candidate must be under the age of 35 as of the closing date of the symposium. He/she must present a paper at the ISDEIV in the Paul A. Chatterton Award Poster Session, of which he or she is either the sole author, or the first author of a multi-author paper (submission of a single-author paper is strongly encouraged).

Jos Wetzer	Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands	1992
Andre and Simone Anders	Lawrence Berkeley Lab., US	1994
Sergej Shkuratov	Institute of Electrophysics, Ekaterinburg, Russia	1994
Thomas Betz	Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany	1996
Holger Weinert	Institute for High Voltage Engineering, Aachen, Germany	1998
Georgy Yu. Yushkov	Institute of High Current Electronics, Tomsk, Russia	2000
Stephan Mändl	Institute for Surface Modification, Leipzig, Germany	2002
Sergey A. Popov	Institute of High Current Electronics, Tomsk, Russia	2002
Kentaro Usui	Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan	2004
Mohamed Kamarol	Kyushu Institute of Technology, Kitakyushu, Japan	2006
Ezra van Lanen	Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands	2006
Guan-Jun Zhang	Skleipe, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China	2008
Vladimir Yu. Anan’in	St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia	2008
Masoumeh Koochack Zadeh	Technische Universitat Darmstadt, Germany	2010
Shin Kajita	Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan	2012
Yuki Inada	The University of Tokyo, Japan	2014
Yunbo Tian	Skleipe, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China	2016
Siegfried Zöhrer	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA	2018
Ze Yang	Skleipe, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China	2021
Yimeng Li	Skleipe, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China	2023
n/a	n/a	2025