Engineering Excellence: Alumnus Wong Joins National Academy of Engineering

H.S. Philip Wong, MS '83, one of the world's leading innovators in nanoscale semiconductor technology, has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional distinctions in the field.

Election to the NAE, which is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to engineering research, practice or education and whose work has advanced the nation's technological leadership.

Wong, the Willard R. and Inez Kerr Bell Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, was selected for his contributions to nanoscale semiconductor device technology, a field in which he has been a defining voice for more than three decades.

"I deeply appreciate the recognition from my peers, and I am truly grateful," Wong said. The NAE is a service organization that advances the welfare and prosperity of the nation by providing independent, objective advice to the U.S. government when called upon and by promoting a vibrant engineering profession and public appreciation of engineering.

"Being elected to the NAE means I now have the additional responsibility to help carry out the NAE mission," said Wong. "And I will work toward that."

Wong traces the origins of his career to his time at the State University of New York at Stony Brook to earn his master's degree in electrical engineering, where he arrived with an interest in solid-state electronics and found himself immersed in a world of scientific possibility. "Stony Brook had world-class research across physics, mathematics, materials science and electrical engineering," he said. "Its proximity to Brookhaven National Laboratory was an added advantage. I was exposed to possibilities I hadn't encountered before, and that experience profoundly shaped my thinking and career."

Read the full story by Christine McGrath in SB Matters.