Ohio University and the National Academy of Engineering will announce the recipient of the fifth Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize on Monday, Jan. 5, in Washington, D.C. The engineering equivalent of the Nobel Prize, the Russ Prize is awarded biennially to a researcher whose achievements are of critical importance, advance science and engineering, and ultimately improve the human condition.
Administered by the NAE, the prize was established in 1999 with a multimillion dollar endowment to Ohio University from the Russes. The Russ Prize honors recipients with a $500,000 cash award and a gold medallion. It is the only award of its kind endowed at a university.
Fritz Russ graduated from Ohio University in 1942 with a degree in electrical engineering, later founding Systems Research Laboratories, which specialized in the research and development of electronic systems and automatic control processes.
Previous recipients are Yuan-Cheng "Bert" Fung (2007), the father of biomechanical engineering; Leland C. Clark, Jr. (2005), inventor of biosensors; Willem J. Kolff (2003), the father of artificial organs; and Earl E. Bakken and Wilson Greatbatch (2001), inventors of the heart pacemaker.
Official presentation of the award will take place during a gala celebration in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 17. President Roderick J. McDavis and Russ College of Engineering and Technology Dean Dennis Irwin will join the NAE in the presentation of the award.
More information on the Russ Prize is available at www.ohio.edu/russprize.
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