To acknowledge excellence in research and innovation, the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS) presents a range of prizes and awards during its conferences.
J. B. Whitehead Memorial Lecturer, IEEE Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena (first presented 1955)
Description: To recognize major contributions in the field of dielectrics.
Prize: Certificate, $1000 honorarium.
Eligibility: Open to all. Selection by the CEIDP Board.
Presentation: Lecture at the opening session of the annual Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena.
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.
- Golden Omega Award, IEEE Electrical Insulation Conference (first presented 1959)
Description: To recognize an outstanding contribution to leadership in science and technology.
Prize: Plaque
Funding: Funded by the Electrical Insulation Conference.
Basis for Judging: Quality of the leadership contribution to science and technology. Nomination process and selection in cooperation with the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (USA). Awardee selected by the EIC Board of Governors
Presentation: Biennially, IEEE Electrical Insulation Conference. - John Tanaka Distinguished Leadership Award (formally the Insulation Hall of Fame Award), IEEE Electrical Insulation Conference (first presented 1975)
Description: To recognize outstanding contributions to the IEEE Electrical Insulation Conference.
Prize: Plaque
Eligibility: Nominees will normally have contributed many years of volunteer service with the EIC or the DEIS. Awardee selected by the EIC Board of Governors
Funding: Funded by the IEEE Electrical Insulation Conference.
Presentation: Biennially, at IEEE Electrical Insulation Conference.
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
Hans Tropper Memorial Lecture, IEEE International Conference on Liquid Dielectrics (first presented in 1984)
Description: To recognize major contributions in the field of liquid dielectrics.
Prize: Plaque and Certificate
Funding: Funded by the International Conference on Liquid Dielectrics
Eligibility: Open to all. Selection by the ICDL Board
Presentation: At the opening session of the International Conference on Liquid Dielectrics.
- 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 |
Caixin Sun and Stanislaw Grzybowski Best Student Paper Award (established 2018)
Description: IEEE Caixin Sun and Stanislaw Grzybowski Best Student Paper Awards will be given at each IEEE International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Applications (ICHVE) fully sponsored by IEEE DEIS. Up to 10 best student papers will be awarded. The Awardees will be selected based on the submitted technical paper only.
Prize: Multiple Awards Given Biennially – Each recipient receives full prize. Each award consists of a subsidy of 500 US$ for a maximum of 10 awards. Only one person can receive the award per paper.
Funding: Funded by an endowment supported by the Caixin Sun Foundation of Education of Chongqing University and managed through the IEEE Foundation. Unless the sponsor makes additional donations, the ICHVE International Advisory Committee can opt to fund the Awards themselves from the conference budget once the original funds are depleted.
Eligibility: To be eligible for the award, a candidate student paper must be submitted by full time student (bachelor, master, PhD or equivalent). The student should appear as a first author of the paper. Moreover, the paper must be presented by the student at an oral / poster session of the ICHVE. The award is open to DEIS, IEEE and non-IEEE members.
Basis for Judging: Final selection of the 10 best student papers will be made at the conference by the International Advisory Committee of ICHVE based on the selection made by the ICHVE Awards Committee.
Presentation: The winners will receive their awards at the closing session.
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 |