Continuing its 45 year tradition of recognizing great innovators, the Marconi Society announced that it awarded the 2020 Marconi Prize to Dr. Andrea Goldsmith. She is the first woman to win the award and she was honored for her pioneering work on the theory and practice of adaptive wireless communications.
Some of Goldsmith’s innovative work began with her PhD thesis at UC Berkeley when she focused on the fundamental limits of wireless networks and designing them to perform close to theoretical limits. Goldsmith’s integration of theory and practice became her innovation hallmark.
She also established two companies based on her research. Serving as Chief Technology Officer, Quantenna Communications was the first to enable multiple HDTV video streams within a home. This enables consumers to view multiple shows and events at once. Her next venture was Plume that delivers high-performance home Wi-Fi mesh networks leading to intelligent home applications such as parental controls and both physical and cyber security.
“Andrea has enabled billions of consumers around the world to enjoy fast and reliable wireless service, as well as applications such as video streaming and autonomous vehicles that require stable network performance,” said Vint Cerf, Chair of the Marconi Society and 1998 Marconi Fellow in a press statement.
Goldsmith’s contributions have not been limited to technology. She is respected for pushing past ceilings in engineering for women to be involved in leadership, as well as being a voice for inclusion. She was the first woman President of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Information Theory Society and has won numerous technology and innovation related awards. She is viewed as an active proponent for greater opportunities for highly qualified women and under-represented groups.
“I am so deeply honored and humbled to become a Marconi Fellow. The Marconi Fellows are my professional heroes and the people I have looked up to my entire career for their immense impact on the communications technologies we have today,” said Goldsmith.
Goldsmith receives a $100,000 Marconi Prize and will be giving it to the Marconi Society as an endowment to fund technology and diversity initiatives.
Arun Netravali, former president of Bell Labs, won the award in 2017 for his work in video technology.
