John Baras to receive 2018 AIAA Aerospace Communications Award

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has named Professor John S. Baras (ECE/ISR) the recipient of its 2018 AIAA Aerospace Communications Award. Baras is the Lockheed Martin Endowed Chair in Systems Engineering at the University of Maryland.

The AIAA Aerospace Communications Award was established in 1968. It is presented for outstanding contributions in the field of aerospace communications. Candidates are individuals or small teams of up to four members whose achievements have had a positive impact on technology and society.

Baras received the award “For outstanding technical contributions and commercialization leadership of Internet over satellite, hybrid satellites, and terrestrial networks, with transformational industrial, economic and societal impact.” Read about the contributions Baras has made to this field here.

He was nominated by Professor Alison Flatau (AE) with assistance from Professor Eyad Abed (ECE).

Baras will receive a medal and certificate of citation on Oct. 17, during the Awards Luncheon at the Joint Conference of the International Communications Satellite Systems Conference (ICSSC) and the Ka and Broadband Communications Conference (Ka) in Niagara Falls, Canada.

Baras is the founding director of the Institute for Systems Research, one of the first six NSF Engineering Research Centers, from 1985 to 1991. He is the director of the Maryland Hybrid Networks Center and its predecessors.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academy of Inventors, and the International Federation for Automatic Control.

Baras has received many awards and honors during his distinguished career. A list of many of these can be found here.

Recently, in 2016, he was inducted into the A. James Clark School's Innovation Hall of Fame for creating the algorithms and protocols by which Internet services can be delivered over satellite.

In 2017 he received the IEEE Simon Ramo Medal, given "for exceptional achievement in systems engineering and systems science." Baras received the medal "For exceptional contributions to the conception and commercialization of Internet-over-satellite systems, and for leadership in model-based engineering, systems science and engineering research."

Also in 2017 he received the American Automatic Control Council’s (AACC) Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award, given for distinguished career contributions to the theory or application of automatic control. It is the highest AACC recognition of professional achievement for U.S. control systems engineers and scientists. The citation for Dr. Baras’ award reads, "For innovative contributions to control theory, stochastic systems, and networks and academic leadership in systems and control."

In 2018, Baras was named a Distinguished University Professor by the University of Maryland. This is the highest academic honor conferred by the university. He will formally receive the title at the university's Convocation Ceremony this fall.

Published August 5, 2018