Klinkhachorn named IEEE Fellow

 Powsiri Klinkhachorn

Powsiri Klinkhachorn, professor in the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at West Virginia University, has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization whose mission is to encourage its members to revolutionize technology for the benefit of humanity.

Klinkhachorn, a member of IEEE for 40 years, was selected for his contributions to engineering education through international technical competitions, many of which can be attributed to his advisory role with WVU robotics initiatives. Teams from WVU have been receiving top honors since Klinkhachorn helped launch the program in 2010. Most recently a team made headlines after becoming the first, and only, team to complete the Level 2 competition for the Sample Robot Return Challenge as part of NASA’s Centennial Challenges. The team brought home a $750,000 prize, the largest prize NASA has awarded in the history of the Challenge.

“We are all proud of our students’ accomplishments and I am honored to be part of their success,” said Klinkhachorn. “My goal has always been to show the engineering community that students from my alma mater can compete with any school in the country.”

After receiving his doctorate in electrical engineering from WVU in 1983, Klinkhachorn began his career as an assistant professor in computer engineering at Louisiana State University before returning to WVU, where he was promoted to professor in 1993. Throughout his career he has received a magnitude of honors, including the IEEE Major Education Innovation Award in 2013 and the West Virginia Professor of the Year Award in 2015 from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Klinkhachorn has earned a long list of accolades at both the national and state level and looks forward to following in his former teacher’s and mentor’s footsteps as an IEEE Fellow.

“Each year less than one-tenth of one percent of IEEE’s 400,000 members worldwide are honored as Fellows,” said Klinkhachorn, “so I am honored and humbled by the selection.”

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