Meet the recipients of the 2026 IEEE Medals—the organization’s highest-level honors. Presented on behalf of the IEEE Board of Directors, these medals recognize innovators whose work has shaped modern technology across disciplines including AI, education, and semiconductors.
The medals will be presented at the IEEE Honors Ceremony in April in New York City. View the full list of 2026 recipients on the IEEE Awards website, and follow IEEE Awards on LinkedIn for news and updates.
Sponsor: IEEE
Jensen Huang
Nvidia
Santa Clara, Calif.
“For leadership in the development of graphics processing units and their application to scientific computing and artificial intelligence.”
Sponsor: IBM
Luis von Ahn
Duolingo
Pittsburgh
“For contributions to the advancement of societal improvement and education through innovative technology.”
Sponsor: Nokia Bell Labs
Scott J. Shenker
University of California, Berkeley
“For contributions to Internet architecture, network resource allocation, and software-defined networking.”
Sponsor: Mani L. Bhaumik
Co-recipients:
Erik Dahlman
Stefan Parkvall
Johan Sköld
Ericsson
Stockholm
“For contributions to and leadership in the research, development, and standardization of cellular wireless communications.”
Sponsor: Google
Karen Ann Panetta
Tufts University
Medford, Mass.
“For contributions to computer vision and simulation algorithms, and for leadership in developing programs to promote STEM careers.”
Sponsor: The Edison Medal Fund
Eric SwansonPIXCEL Inc.MIT
“For pioneering contributions to biomedical imaging, terrestrial optical communications and networking, and inter-satellite optical links.”
Sponsor: Toyota Motor Corp.
Wei-Jen Lee
University of Texas at Arlington
“For contributions to advancing electrical safety in the workplace, integrating renewable energy and grid modernization for climate change mitigation.”
Sponsor: IEEE Foundation
Marian Rogers Croak
Google
Reston, Va.
“For leadership in communication networks, including acceleration of digital equity, responsible Artificial Intelligence, and the promotion of diversity and inclusion.”
Sponsor: Qualcomm, Inc.
Muriel Médard
MIT
“For contributions to coding for reliable communications and networking.”
Sponsor: Friends of Nick Holonyak, Jr.
Steven P. DenBaars
University of California, Santa Barbara
“For seminal contributions to compound semiconductor optoelectronics, including high-efficiency visible light-emitting diodes, lasers, and LED displays.”
Sponsor: IEEE Engineering Medicine and Biology Society
Rosalind W. Picard
MIT
“For pioneering contributions to wearable affective computing for health and wellbeing.”
Sponsor: Apple
Biing-Hwang “Fred” Juang
Georgia Tech
“For contributions to signal modeling, coding, and recognition for speech communication.”
Sponsor: ARM, Ltd.
Paul B. Corkum
University of Ottawa
“For the development of the recollision model for strong field light–matter interactions leading to the field of attosecond science.”
Sponsor: IEEE Life Members Fund and __MathWorks
__
James H. McClellan
Georgia Tech
“For fundamental contributions to electrical and computer engineering education through innovative digital signal processing curriculum development.”
Sponsor: IEEE Jun-ichi Nishizawa Medal Fund
Eric R. Fossum
Dartmouth CollegeHanover, N.H.
“For the invention, development, and commercialization of the CMOS image sensor.”
Sponsor: Intel Corp.
Chris Malachowsky
Nvidia
Santa Clara, Calif.
“For pioneering parallel computing architectures and leadership in semiconductor design that transformed artificial intelligence, scientific research, and accelerated computing.”
Sponsor: RTX
Yoshio Yamaguchi
Niigata University
Japan
“For contributions to polarimetric synthetic aperture radar imaging and its utilization.”
Sponsors: IEEE Industry Applications, Industrial Electronics, Power Electronics, and Power & Energy societies
Fang Zheng Peng
University of Pittsburgh
“For contributions to Z-Source and modular multi-level converters for distribution and transmission networks.”
LogiQ, Inc.
Arlington, Va.
“For leadership in national security, civil, and commercial systems engineering and development of elegant design principles.”
Sponsor: IBM
Donald D. Chamberlin
IBM
San Jose, Calif.
“For contributions to database query languages, particularly Structured Query Language, which powers most of the world’s data management and analysis systems.”
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