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The 2020 W. G. Cady Award

Craig Nelson – For leadership in the design and development of state-of-the-art low noise oscillators and phase noise measurement systems

The 2020 I. I. Rabi Award

Robert Lutwak – For pioneering technical contributions and engineering management leading to the development of the first commercial “chip-scale” atomic clock.

Dr. Robert Lutwak serves as a clockmaker at Microchip Technology, Frequency and Time Systems business unit. He received his B.S. degree in physics, summa cum laude, from Miami University in 1988 and his Ph.D. in atomic and optical physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1997. For his Ph.D. research, Dr. Lutwak performed high-precision millimeter-wave spectroscopy between high-lying Rydberg states of atomic hydrogen, in the laboratory of Professor Daniel Kleppner, with the objective of advancing the precision of measurement of the Rydberg constant. Following the completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Lutwak served as a National Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Bill Phillips, at NIST in Gaithersburg, MD, where he developed an apparatus for producing Bose-Einstein Condensates in atomic Sodium and contributed to the first demonstration of a coherent BEC outcoupler. Dr. Lutwak joined Microchip/FTS, then Datum Corporation, in 1998, where he led efforts to incorporate modern laser-based atomic physics techniques and digital signal processing into practical, deployable, atomic clock instruments, including the laser-pumped cesium beam frequency standard and vapor cell clocks employing coherent population trapping. During his 15-year tenure at FTS, Dr. Lutwak led 17 different laser-development projects, at least one of which led to a practical atomic clock. From 2001-2009, Dr. Lutwak served as Principal Investigator on the DARPA Chip-Scale Atomic Clock (CSAC) program, which resulted in the release of the Microchip Model SA.45s CSAC in 2011. The SA.45s CSAC enables atomic-quality timing in portable battery-powered applications and is now widely deployed in commercial, military, and aerospace applications.

From 2013 to 2017, Dr. Lutwak served as a Program Manager in the Microsystems Technology Office of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA/MTO), where he led programs leveraging modern atomic physics, integrated photonics, and micro-electromechanical systems to address defense needs in positioning, navigation, and timing.

From 2017 to 2018, Dr. Lutwak served as Senior Technologist for Position, Navigation, and Timing at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, OH, where he led efforts to develop and promote the DoD PNT Architecture Standard (PNTAS) to enable flexible and agile adoption and integration of emerging PNT technologies.

Dr. Lutwak rejoined Microchip/FTS in the Spring of 2019, where he is once again focused on developing advanced atomic clocks, happily working in the laboratory, and plotting for the future of CSAC technology.

Dr. Lutwak is a Fellow of the IEEE and recipient of the recipient of the DARPA Medal for Meritorious Public Service. He and his wife, Elizabeth, recently celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary and the college graduations of their two children. They live in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

The 2020 C. B. Sawyer Memorial Award

Victor Plessky – For pioneering contributions to the development of SAW and micro-acoustic devices, including the prediction of Surface Transverse Waves (STM), the theory of the “leaky” SAW in periodic structures (i.e., the “Plessky equation”), and the invention of XBARs.

Victor Plessky

Visit the IFCS-ISAF 2020 Virtual Platform

The 2020 W. G. Cady Award

Craig Nelson – For leadership in the design and development of state-of-the-art low noise oscillators and phase noise measurement systems

Craig Nelson

The 2020 I. I. Rabi Award

Robert Lutwak – For pioneering technical contributions and engineering management leading to the development of the first commercial “chip-scale” atomic clock.

Robert Lutwak

The 2020 C. B. Sawyer Memorial Award

Victor Plessky – For pioneering contributions to the development of SAW and micro-acoustic devices, including the prediction of Surface Transverse Waves (STM), the theory of the “leaky” SAW in periodic structures (i.e., the “Plessky equation”), and the invention of XBARs.

Victor Plessky

IEEE IFCS ISAF 2020 Patrons & Supporters

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2020 IFCS Award Recipients

The 2020 W. G. Cady Award

Craig Nelson – For leadership in the design and development of state-of-the-art low noise oscillators and phase noise measurement systems

Craig Nelson

The 2020 I. I. Rabi Award

Robert Lutwak – For pioneering technical contributions and engineering management leading to the development of the first commercial “chip-scale” atomic clock.

Robert Lutwak

The 2020 C. B. Sawyer Memorial Award

Victor Plessky – For pioneering contributions to the development of SAW and micro-acoustic devices, including the prediction of Surface Transverse Waves (STM), the theory of the “leaky” SAW in periodic structures (i.e., the “Plessky equation”), and the invention of XBARs.

Victor Plessky

IEEE IFCS ISAF 2020 Patrons & Supporters

Join the conversation