Internationally recognized as one of the world’s preeminent industrial research facilities and as a center of scientific and engineering excellence, few institutions have had as great an impact on modern society as Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs.

Awards

An extensive array of awards has been bestowed upon Bell Labs and its researchers, including seven Nobel prizes, nine U.S. Medals of Science, seven U.S. Medals of Technology, two Draper prizes, eight Marconi Awards, an Emmy, a GRAMMY, and an Academy Award. 

Recognition 

Long acknowledged as one of the world's preeminent research institutions, Bell Labs continues to foster an environment for employees to excel individually. Bell Labs’ former and current employees received wide recognition for excellence in their respective fields.

Internationally recognized as the world's preeminent industrial research facility and as a center of scientific and engineering excellence, few institutions have had as great an impact on modern society as Bell Labs. Our scientists and engineers have earned thousands of awards, including:

• 7 Nobel Prizes in Physics shared by 13 scientists
• 9 U.S. Medals of Science
• 12 U.S. Medals of Technology
• 2 Draper Prizes
• 1 GRAMMY® Award
• 8 Marconi International Fellowship Awards
• 7 C&C Prizes shared by 12 scientists and engineers
• 28 IEEE Medal of Honor winners

Nobel Prize in Physics

Thirteen researchers have received Nobel Prizes in Physics for work done while they were at Bell Labs. The Nobel Prize is the world's most coveted award in intellectual achievement. Categories for awards are physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, peace and economics. The awards honor Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist and philanthropist. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry since 1901.

• Charge Coupled Device (CCD) (2009): Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their invention and development of the charge-coupled device (CCD), a technology that transforms patterns of light into useful digital information and is the basis for many forms of modern imaging.
• Fractional Quantum Hall Effect (1998): Horst Stormer, Robert Laughlin (now at Stanford University), and Daniel Tsui (now at Princeton University), were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery and explanation of the fractional quantum Hall effect.
• Optical Trapping (1997): Steven Chu (now at Stanford University), shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics. He was cited for developing methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.
• Radio Astronomy (1978): Arno A. Penzias (now retired from Bell Labs) and Robert W. Wilson shared the Nobel Prize in Physics. Penzias and Wilson were cited for their discovery of faint background radiation remaining from the "big bang" explosion that gave birth to the universe billions of years ago.
• Improved Understanding of Local Electronic States in Solids (1977): Philip W. Anderson shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for developing an improved understanding of the electronic structure of glass and magnetic materials.
• Transistor (1956): John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain and William Shockley received the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing the transistor in 1947.
• Wave Nature of Matter (1937): Clinton J. Davisson shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for demonstrating the wave nature of matter. His fundamental work is part of the foundation for much of today's solid-state electronics.

Four scientists received the Nobel Prize in Physics who once worked at Bell Labs:

• 1996: Sir Harold Kroto of the University of Sussex shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Rice University professors Richard Smalley and Robert Curl, who in 1985 discovered the forms of carbon now known as buckminsterfullerenes, fullerenes, or just "buckyballs." Kroto had a one-year postdoctoral assignment at Bell Labs in 1966-67, before he did his Nobel-winning work.
• 1996: Douglas C. Osheroff, a Bell Labs researcher for 15 years, shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for work he did at Cornell University as a graduate student on the behavior of helium at extremely low temperatures.
• 1981: Arthur L. Schawlow received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his "contribution to the development of laser spectroscopy." Schawlow invented the laser with Charles H. Townes while at Bell Labs in 1958.
• 1964: Charles H. Townes shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with A. Prokhorov and N. Basov of the Lebedev Institute in Moscow for "fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics which has led to the construction of oscillators and amplifiers based on the maser-laser principle." Townes invented the laser with Arthur L. Schawlow while a consultant at Bell Labs in 1958.

National Medal of Science

The National Medal of Science was established by the United States Congress in 1959. The medal is awarded by the U.S. President to individuals "deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences." The awards, administered by the U.S. National Science Foundation, have been awarded to nine Bell Labs researchers.

• C. Kumar Patel (1996) for his invention of the carbon dioxide laser, which led to numerous scientific, industrial, and medical applications.
• James Flanagan (1996) for bringing engineering techniques and speech science together to solve basic problems in speech communication.
• Alfred Y. Cho (1993) For his pioneering work in the development of molecular beam epitaxy, which revolutionized thin film growth making possible atomically accurate structures for electronic and optoelectronic devices, and for the study of new quantum phenomena.
• William O. Baker (1988) For pioneering studies of the complex relationships between the molecular structures and physical properties of polymers, for his distinguished record of leadership in the combined disciplines of science and engineering, and for distinguished service to government and education.
• Solomon J. Buchsbaum (1986) for his contributions to national science and technology policy.
• Philip Anderson (1982) for his fundamental and comprehensive contributions to the theoretical understanding of condensed matter.
• Rudolph Kompfner (1974) for his invention of the traveling-wave tube and for major contributions to communication satellites and to optical communications.
• John R. Tukey (1973) for his studies in mathematical and theoretical statistics, and for his outstanding contributions to the application of statistics to the physical, social, and engineering sciences.
• John R. Pierce (1963) for outstanding contributions to communications theory, electron optics and traveling wave tubes, and for the analysis leading to world-wide radio communications using artificial earth satellites.

National Medal of Technology

The National Medal of Technology is presented by the United States President to individuals, teams, or companies, for accomplishments in the innovation, development, commercialization, and management of technology, made evident by the establishment of new or significantly improved products, processes, or services. The medal, administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce, has been awarded to Bell Labs as an organization and to seven Bell Labs researchers.

• Herwig Kogelnik (2006) for his pioneering contributions and leadership in the development of lasers, optoelectronics, integrated optics and lightwave communications systems.
• James E. West (2006) for co-inventing the electret microphone with Gerhard Sessler while working at the Bell Labs.
• Alfred Y. Cho (2005) for his contributions to the invention of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and his continuing work to refine it into a commercial process.  MBE ‘grows’ ordered materials one atomic layer at a time, allowing engineering of the highly precise semiconductor components needed for advanced electronics and photonics. 
• Arun Netravali (2002) for pioneering contributions in digital image and video compression technology.
• Kenneth Thompson and Dennis Ritchie (1998) for creating the UNIX* operating system and C Language.
• Richard H. Frenkiel and Joel S. Engel (1994) for their fundamental contributions to the theory, design, and development of cellular mobile communications systems.
• Amos Joel (1993) For his vision, inventiveness and perseverance in introducing technological advances in telecommunications, particularly in switching, that have had a major impact on the evolution of the telecommunications industry in the U.S. and worldwide.
• W. Lincoln Hawkins (1992) For his invention and contribution to the commercialization of long-lived plastic coatings for communications cable that has saved billions of dollars for telephone companies around the world; and for his leadership in encouraging minorities to pursue science and engineering careers.
• John S. Mayo (1990) for providing the technological foundation for information age communications and for overseeing the conversion of the national switched telephone network from analog to digital-based technology.
• Bell Laboratories (1985) for contributions over decades to modern communications systems. It was the first institution recognized with this honor.

Draper Prize

The Charles Stark Draper Prize, awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, recognizes outstanding engineering achievements that have contributed to the welfare and freedom of humanity. It is considered the world's highest engineering prize.

• Willard Boyle and Dr. George Smith (2006) For their invention and development of the charge-coupled device, or CCD, which transforms patterns of light into useful digital information, The CCD is the key enabling technology in many forms of modern imaging including its universal use in digital cameras, video cameras, endoscopy, astronomy, bar code readers, and image scanners (e.g., copy machines) 
• John MacChesney (1999) for his invention and development of the modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) process, a world standard for optical-fiber manufacturing.

Marconi International Fellowship Awards

Eight Bell Labs researchers have won the Marconi International Fellowship Award. The Fellowships, based out of Columbia University, New York, N.Y., are granted to individuals who have made significant contribution to the advancement of communications or knowledge transfer through scientific or technological discoveries or innovations.

• Andrew Chraplyvy and Robert Tkach (2009) for their insights into how information is transmitted over optical networks and for finding innovative ways to significantly increase the speed and capacity of optical fiber communications systems. 
• Herwig Kogelnik (2001) for his work as a pioneer in the development of fiber optic technology - work that has revolutionized modern telecommunications.
• Izuo Hayashi (1993) for his pioneering contributions to optoelectronic technology, including the first room-temperature continuous-wave semiconductor injection laser with double heterostructure, highly reliable lasers for optical communication, optical memory, and many other applications, as well as for his life contribution to communications science.
• James L. Flanagan (1992) for his contributions to the development of signal coding algorithms used in telecommunications, voice-mail systems, and techniques for automatic speech synthesis and recognition. In addition, Flanagan invented autodirective microphone arrays for use in teleconferencing and pioneered the use of computers for acoustic signal processing.
• Robert W. Lucky (1987) for the invention of the adaptive equalizer while at Bell Labs. This invention is a technique for correcting distortion in telephone signals, and is today used in all high-speed data transmissions. Lucky also is well respected for his popularized writings about public use of communications technology.
• John R. Pierce (1979) for advances in space and satellite technologies relevant to improving world communications. Pierce was the first person carefully to evaluate the various technical options in satellite communications and its financial prospects. While at Bell Labs, he designed and was responsible for the launch of the first active communications satellite, Telstar I. His work has resulted in the theoretical development of the possibilities of communications satellites and of broadband digital transmissions via pulse code modulations and multivalent signals. Pierce is well known for his many books that explain clearly the science and technology of communications.
• Arthur L. Schawlow (1977) for his research in the fields of optical and microwave spectroscopy, nuclear quadrupole resonance superconductivity, and lasers. Schawlow, along with Charles H. Townes, invented the laser in 1958. While working at Bell Labs, they succeeded in extending the maser principle of amplifying electromagnetic waves into the shorter wavelengths of infrared and visible light. Schawlow won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1981.

C&C Prize

Twelve Bell Labs scientists and engineers have been honored with the C&C (Computers and Communication) Prize, awarded by the NEC Corporation. This award recognizes individuals who are pioneers in the field of computers and communication technologies.

• George Smith and Willard Boyle (1999) For their invention of the charge-coupled device (CCD), a light-sensitive integrated circuit used in a wide variety of uses, primarily in imaging.
• Arun Netravali (1997) For pioneering contributions in digital image and video compression technology.
• Alfred Y. Cho (1995) for pioneering development of the Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) crystal growth process, a technology that is revolutionizing high-performance optoelectronics and electronics for computers and communications.
• Jack M. Sipress (1991) for leadership in the development of high-speed digital fiberguide systems that span the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, thereby making possible global digital connectivity over high-capacity optical systems.
• Dennis M. Ritchie and Kenneth L. Thompson (1989) for creating the UNIX* operating system and C programming language.
• John S. Mayo, Eric E. Sumner, and M. Robert Aaron (1988) for pioneering contributions to establishing a basic technology for digital communications by developing the world's first practical commercial high-speed digital communications system, T-1.
• Izuo Hayashi and Morton B. Panish (1986) for conceiving and developing the first room-temperature continuous-wave semiconductor injection laser with double heterostructure.

IEEE Medal of Honor

A number of scientists who were associated with Bell Labs during the course of their careers have received the IEEE Medal of Honor. Each year, IEEE awards the medal, which is the highest honor in the electrical engineering community, to an individual who has made significant contributions to the field. The recipients associated with Bell Labs include:

• Herwig Kogelnik (2001)
• Alfred Y. Cho (1994)
• Amos E. Joel, Jr. (1992)
• C. Kumar Patel (1989)
• John Wilder Tukey (1982)
• Sidney Darlington (1981)
• William Shockley (1980)
• H. Earle Vaughan (1977)
• John R. Pierce (1975)
• Rudolf Kompfner (1973)
• John Bardeen (1971)
• Charles H. Townes (1967)
• Claude E. Shannon (1966)
• George C. Southworth (1963)
• Harry Nyquist (1960)
• H. T. Friis (1955)
• Ralph Brown (1949)
• R. V. L. Hartley (1946)
• Lloyd Espenschied (1940)
• G. A. Campbell (1936)
• J. A. Fleming (1933)
• G. W. Pickard (1925)
• M. I. Pupin (1924)
• John Stone-Stone (1923)
• Lee De Forest (1922)
• R. A. Fessenden (1921)
• E. H. Armstrong (1917)

Here's a quick look at some Bell Labs employees — both present and past — who have recently attained noteworthy recognition of their excellence in their respective fields.

2010 Awards and Achievements

• Gabriel Charlet has been recognized by the MIT Technology Review (TR35) as one of the world’s top innovators under the age of 35 for his overall research on optical networking systems based on Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM), and more particularly for his work in coherent detection and advanced modulation formats. The resulting innovations are present in the new generation of 40 and 100 Gigabit/s fiber systems that Alcatel-Lucent announced in May 2010.
• Dr. Michael Tompsett, former Bell Labs researcher, will be inducted into the New jersey Inventors Hall of Fame for Multiple Patents-Semi-Conductor & Optical Imaging Technologies E.G.; Camera System for Producing a Temperature Image; Imaging Devices, Solid State Circuitry and Conversion of Analog to Digital Signals.
• Andrew Chraplyvy, Robert Tkach and Kenneth Walker will be inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame for their Optical Fiber for Wavelength Division Multiplexing-US Patent #5,327,516
• Daniel (Matthew) Andrews' paper "Approximation Algorithms for the Edge-Disjoint Paths Problem via Raecke Decompositions" was chosen as the Best Paper Awards at the FOCS (annual symposium on the "Foundations of Computer Science" organized by the IEEE Computer Society, http://theory.stanford.edu/focs2010/ ) is one of top 2 conferences in Theoretical Computer Science and arguably the most elite. It is very difficult to get a paper accepted (harder than getting a paper accepted in a top-tier journal) and it is very high honor to get a Best Paper Award from FOCS. Also, the topic is of interest to Alcatel-Lucent and Bell Labs. The origin of the problem is in the efficient design of restoration in networks, i.e., designing back-up paths for recovery from possible failures in the primary paths in networks.
• Dr. George E. Smith, 2009 Nobel Prize recipient in Physics and former Bell Labs researcher, will accept this award from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at the 2010 R&D Council of NJ's annual Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award Ceremony & Reception in November
• Timo Pfau  received the ITG-Foerderpreis 2010 Award from the German Information Technology Society for outstanding dissertations in the field of information technology.
• Reinaldo Valenzuela was given the 2010 IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award for his pioneering contributions to multi antennas systems and microwave propagation. The IEEE bestows the Sumner Award annually to an individual or small team for their outstanding contributions to communications technology.  It is named in honor of Eric E. Sumner, 1991 IEEE President, who retired as Vice President, Operations Planning, AT&T Bell Laboratories after a long and distinguished career.
• Christophe Senot, Makram Bouzid, Dimitre Kostadinov, Jerôme Picault, Cédric Bernier and Armen Aghasaryan won the best paper award for “Analysis of strategies for building user group profiles” at UMAP 2010. User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization (UMAP) is the primary conference for people who are working on systems that adapt to their individual users, or to groups of users. (UMAP papers undergo thorough review, and the conference has a low paper acceptance rate.  UMAP is the successor to the biennial User Modeling and Adaptive Hypermedia conferences that were merged in 2009. It is organized in cooperation with ACM SIGIR, SIGCHI and SIGART and SIGWEB.)
• Gordon Wilfong has been selected for the paper "an analysis of BGP convergence properties," co-written with Timothy Griffin for the 2010 SigcommTest-of-Time Award. The Sigcomm Test-of-Time award recognizes papers published 10 to 12 years in the past in Computer Communication Review, or any SIGCOMM sponsored or co-sponsored conference, that are deemed to be outstanding, with content that offers a vibrant and useful contribution today.
• Thierry Klein, Alcatel-Lucent Ventures, won the "Technologist of the Year" Award from the World Vendors Award for the Alzete venture.
• Rod Alferness won the OSA Leadership Award for his broad and inspiring leadership in terms of governing premier societies, chairing prestigious conferences, leading the research arm of Bell Laboratories, and spear-heading the multi-institutional MONET consortium.
• Willard Boyle and George Smith received a U.S. House of Representatives "Resolution Letter of Congratulations" for being awarded the Nobel Prize in physics.
• Sharad Jaiswal has been recognized as one of India Top 35 Innovators Under 35 Years for his contribution to the Mango small-cell architecture for taking content delivery to the mobile masses.
• Carl Nuzman was selected to participate in the German-American Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. 30 US engineers, ages 30-45 are selected each year, and 30 German counterparts. Location is Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee. The topics this year are: Lasers: the Final Frontier, Rapid Vaccine Manufacturing, Modern Power System Grid Control, and Novel Concepts for Automobiles.
• Bell Labs India was selected to the list of 2009 IT Innovators by NASSCOM based on a submission of Teleport from BL India. Nasscom is the premier organization that represents & sets the tone for public policy for the Indian software industry. The objective of the Innovation Initiative is to encourage innovative practices across IT-ITES Industry & provide support by developing an ecosystem conducive to fostering innovativeness, technological advancement & creation of IP.
• Alcatel-Lucent won the FTTH Council’s Innovation Award for its 10G gigabit passive optical network (GPON) prototype in the “Technological and Technical Innovation” category. Bell Labs Fixed Access Domain in Murray Hill and Stuttgart designed the optical front-end for the 10/2.5 G TDMA transmission and first prototype of the FPGA for the ONU.
• Randy Giles was elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) for contributions to advanced lightwave communication networks including erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, fiber Bragg grating-based subsystems, and MEMs crossconnect.
• Vishy Poosala won the Excellence in Innovation Award at the 3rd International India Innovation Summit 2010for his distinguished contribution to Innovation.
• Sébastien Bigo has received the Prix Chereau-Lavet for his work on "high bit rate optical transmission" and the prize is in recognition of a "constant inventive approach, ensuring renown technical and societal impact".
• David Neilson was named a2010 IEEE Fellow for his contributions to optical switching technologies for telecommunication networks.
• Randy Giles received the IEEE Photonics Society/OSA 2010 - John Tyndall Award for his seminal contributions to advanced lightwave communications networks including erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, fiber Bragg grating-based subsystems, and MEMs crossconnects.
• James West and Gerhard Sessler received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering for their invention/development of the first practical electret microphone, which can inexpensively be made small enough to fit into cellular phones, digital cameras, and other portable devices.

2009 Awards and Achievements

• Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith were awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for their invention and development of the charge-coupled device (CCD), a technology that transforms patterns of light into useful digital information. CCD technology is the basis for many forms of modern imaging, and is widely used in devices as diverse as digital cameras, video cameras, and bar code readers as well as in security monitoring, medical endoscopy, modern astronomy and video conferencing. 
• Al Cho, together with Professor Leonid Keldysh of Russia, were awarded the 2009 RUSNANOPRIZE in the field of Nano Electronics for the innovation “semiconductor superstructures and the technology of molecular beam epitaxy.” A prize will also go to the RIBER company of France that commercialized the MBE growth machine. This is the first time the prize will be awarded not only for nanotechnology scientific discoveries and innovations but for their application to mass production.
• Dor Skuler, general manager of mobile security in Alcatel-Lucent's enterprise business group, was named as one of the Global Telecoms Business publication’s ‘Forty under Forty’ leading young executives in the telecoms industry. Skuler incubated and commercialized the OmniAccess 3500 Nonstop Laptop Guardian.
• Andrew Chraplyvy and Robert Tkach of Bell Labs were awarded the 2009 Marconi Prize for their insights into how information is transmitted over optical networks and for finding innovative ways to significantly increase the speed and capacity of optical fiber communications systems. This is the seventh time that Bell Labs scientists have won the Marconi Prize.
• Reinaldo Valenzuela has been given the 2010 IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award for his pioneering contributions to multi antennas systems and microwave propagation. The IEEE bestows the Sumner Award annually to an individual or small team for their outstanding contributions to communications technology.  It is named in honor of Eric E. Sumner, 1991 IEEE President, who retired as Vice President, Operations Planning, AT&T Bell Laboratories after a long and distinguished career.
• Chris Doerr received the IEEE William Streifer Award for pioneering research on highly functional integrated optical circuits based on arrayed waveguide grating routers and their implementation in advanced optical networks.
• Rene-Jean Essiambre, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Bell Labs and Yves Baeyens, Technical Manager, Bell Labs have been selected to take part in the esteemed National Academy of Engineering's (NAE) 15th annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium.
• Bell Labs TIGER receives the 2009 Celtic Excellence Award. The TIGER project team was awarded the Celtic excellence award for their outstanding achievements in the Metro Ethernet market.
• Jeong Kim received the 2009 Chinese Institute of Engineering's Lifetime Achievement Award for his record of significant contributions to academia, public service and industry, and personal achievements.
• Holger Claussen, Lester Ho, and Florian Pivit received the 2008 Eckermann-Telecommunications Journal of Australia (TJA) Prize for their work on improving radio access network power efficiency through the use of joint small cell and macrocell deployments. They also received an Alcatel-Lucent Corporate Social Responsibility Award in 2008.
• Gerard Foschini and Bob Tkach were elected as new members at the 2009 National Academy of Engineering. Gerard Foschini was elected for contributions to the science and technology of wireless communications with multiple antennas for transmission and receiving, and Bob Tkach for contributions to research and development of terabit/second optical-fiber communication systems and networks.
• Chris Doerr. 2009 OSA Fellow for his significant contributions to planar lightwave/photonic integrated circuits.
• Al Cho. 2009 U.S. National Inventors Hall of Fame for his MBE (molecular beam epitaxi) invention.
• Jingdong Chen. 2009 IEEE Signal Processing Society Best Paper for “New Insights into the Noise Reduction Wiener Filter."
• Yves Baeyens, Andy Chraplyvy, Alan Gnauck, Anwar Walid, Peter Winzer and Thomas Woo. 2009 IEEE Fellows.
• Yves Chabal and Krishan Raghavachari. 2009 APS Davisson-Germer Prize. On fundamental surface infrared spectroscopy and quantum chemical methods to silicon surface reactions important in microelectronics.
• Theo Siegrist. 2009 Humboldt Research Prize.

2008 Awards and Achievements

• Dr. Randy Giles, Director of Optical Subsystems and Advanced Photonics at Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, and Prof. Emmanuel Desurvire, formerly of Bell Labs, Columbia University, Alcatel and currently Director of the Physics Research Group at Thales Research & Technology were selected as members of a finalist team for the 2008 Millennium Technology Prize. They are being recognized for their historic contributions to telecommunications resulting from their pioneering research of the Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) and its use in fiber optic transmission systems which made possible the high-capacity optical fiber networks that today power the Internet and communications networks around the globe. Read the press release.

2007 Awards and Achievements 

• Seiji Ogawa, a retired Bell Labs researcher, is the winner of the 2007 ISMAR Prize, given by the International Society of Magnetic Resonance.  His seminal work in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was done in the Biological Computation Research department at Bell Labs in the late 1980s.

2006 Awards and Achievements 

• Richart Slusher, director of Quantum Information Research and recent Bell Labs Fellow, is the 2006 recipient of the Max Born Award, presented by the Optical Society of America (OSA). The award honors Max Born and is presented annually to a person who has made outstanding contributions to theoretical or experimental physical optics.
• Herwig Kogelnik, Bell Labs Adjunct Photonics Systems Director, was awarded the 2006 Okawa prize by the Okawa Foundation for Information and Telecommunications of Japan.  Dr. Kogelnik was recognized for his seminal contributions to the field of optical communications.
• Hock Ng, a Bell Labs materials scientist focusing on gallium-nitride-related semiconductors, was selected to receive two Young Investigator Awards -- the Charles W. Tobias Young Investigator Award of The Electrochemical Society and the first annual Young Investigator Award from the North American Molecular Beam Epitaxy (NAMBE) board.
• Aref Chowdhury, a Bell Labs researcher in the field of optical physics, was selected by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) as one of eighty-one engineers from around the United States to participate in the 12th annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium.
• Ashok Maliakal, a Bell Labs materials scientist studying design and development of nano-structured organic and hybrid materials for advanced electronic applications, was named as one of Technology Review magazine´s TR35, a list of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35. Maliakal continues the trend of including at least one Bell Labs scientist among the winners since the list´s inception in 1999.
  
• Dr. Willard Boyle and Dr. George Smith, both former researchers at Bell Labs, received one of the highest honors in engineering, the 2006 National Academy of Engineering's (NAE) Charles Stark Draper Prize, for their invention and development of the charge-coupled device, or CCD. This award honors engineers whose accomplishments have significantly impacted society.  CCD imaging, which transforms patterns of light into useful electrical information, is the basis for many forms of modern imaging. Today the most noticeable impact is its universal use in digital cameras, video cameras, bar code readers, and image scanners such as copy machines. Both Boyle and Smith were members of the Semiconductor Components Division at Bell Labs and began their seminal work on the CCD in 1969.

2005 Awards and Achievements

• Vladimir Aksyuk was chosen among Technology Review magazine's 2005 TR35, an elite list of top innovators under the age of 35. Aksyuk is the sixth researcher chosen from Bell Labs since the list's inception in 1999, continuing the proud tradition of Bell Labs' inclusion each year the list has been published.  Aksyuk's significant contributions to the field of optical microsystems, specifically research and development of novel optical and other MEMS (micro-electro mechanical systems) devices, earned him this honor.
• Rod Alferness received the 2005 IEEE Photonics Award, which is sponsored by IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society to honor outstanding achievements in the field of photonics.  Alferness was honored for “seminal contributions to enabling photonics technologies and for visionary leadership in their application to networks and systems.” Photonic technologies generally include lasers, optical switches and other network elements that transmit signals in the form of light over optical fibers.
• Dennis Ritchie, Bell Labs researcher and co-Inventor of Unix, received the 2005 Industrial Research Institute Achievement Award.  Established in 1973, the award honors outstanding accomplishments in individual creativity and innovation that contribute broadly to the development of industry and to the benefit of society.  Ritchie joined Bell Labs in 1968, focusing his research on the design of computer languages and operating systems. After contributing to the MULTICS time-shared operating system in the 1960's, he and Bell Labs researcher Ken Thompson created UNIX® — the operating system of most large Internet servers, businesses and universities, and a major part of academic and industrial research in operating systems — in 1969. Later Ritchie designed and implemented the C Language for use on the UNIX® operating system. Prized for its efficiency, C has since spread to many other operating systems and is one of the most widely used programming languages for both system software and applications.  In addition to this award, Ritchie has been jointly awarded the ACM Turing Award, the IEEE Emmanuel Piore Award, the Richard W. Hamming Medal, and the U.S. Medal of Technology. Ritchie is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
• Gee Rittenhouse was selected by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) as one of 88 bright young engineers invited to participate in the 11th annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. Rittenouse developed high-speed circuits for optical networking and made numerous contributions, including publications and patents to the field of wireless systems and circuits. He also was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Wireless Emergency Response Team (WERT), an industry-wide effort to locate survivors of 9/11 at Ground Zero through signals from their wireless telephones. 

2004 Awards and Achievements

• Richard Frenkiel and Joel Engel, former researchers at Bell Labs, were selected to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame. The CES Hall of Fame honors individuals worldwide whose leadership and innovation have played a significant role in shaping the consumer electronics industry. Frankiel and Engel were cited as the key researchers in the development of the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) standard, which was adopted by the FCC as the country's first wireless phone standard. It also was the world's first wireless phone standard. For their achievement, they were jointly awarded the National Medal of Technology in 1994 by the president of the United States. In 1987, Frenkiel, Engel and their colleague William Jakes were honored with the Alexander Graham Bell Medal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for their work on cellular radio.

2002-2003 Awards and Achievements

• Sem Borst, a member of technical staff in the Mathematics of Networks and Systems Department, won an IEEE Infocom 2003 Best Paper Award for his paper on scheduler modeling. The paper, "User-Level Performance of Channel-Aware Scheduling Algorithms in Wireless Data Networks," gives an analytical method for evaluating the performance experienced by users in wireless data systems. Borst was honored for the significance, depth, and originality of his paper at the Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies held in San Francisco in April.
• Andrew Chraplyvy, director of the Lightwave Systems Research department at Bell Labs, received the Optical Society of America's 2003 John Tyndall Award at the international Optical Fiber Communications (OFC) conference in March. Chraplyvy was honored for "pioneering research on optical fiber non-linearities and their dispersion management, and leading wavelength-division-multiplexed fiber transmission systems beyond terabit/second capacities." The award, co-sponsored by the Optical Society of America and the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society, is named for the 19th-century British scientist who first demonstrated the phenomenon of total internal reflection. It recognizes individuals who have made significant or continuing technical or leadership contributions to fiber-optic technology.
• Gerard Foschini, Wireless Communication research, won a 2002 Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award. The honor, given by the Research and Development Council of New Jersey is bestowed upon New Jersey men and women who have changed the world with their inventions. Foschini also was cited by the American Society for Information Science and Technology — an institute that tracks scientific citations — for being in the top 0.5 of 1 percent of publishing researchers. (November 2002).
• Steven Golowich and Scott Vander Wiel, research statisticians in the Fundamental Mathematics department, won the Outstanding Statistical Application Prize from the American Statistical Association, along with former Bell Labs researcher James Landwehr, for their work on modeling bandwidth in optical fiber communications.
• Elsa Reichmanis, director of materials research at Bell Labs, was elected president of the American Chemical Society (ACS) for 2003, a 161,000-member national professional organization.
• Dennis Ritchie, distinguished member of technical staff in the Computing Sciences Research department, is one of the recipients of the 2003 Harold Pender Award, the highest honor bestowed by the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science. He shares the award with retired colleague Kenneth Thompson.  The award honors the world-renowned computer scientists for their pioneering accomplishments at Bell Labs in the development of the UNIX® operating system in 1969, and the C programming language two years later.   Ritchie and Thompson have received several other prestigious awards for their pioneering work, including the National Medal of Technology, which was presented to them by President Clinton in 1998 and the Turing Award from the Association of Computing Machinery in 1983. Both men have also been elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
• Wim Sweldens, Bell Labs Computing Sciences Research vice president, received the 2003 Wavelet Pioneer Award for co-inventing next-generation wavelets with former Bell Labs employee Ingrid Daubechies. The International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) presented him the award during its Independent Component Analyses, Wavelets and Neural Network Conference held in April in Orlando, Florida.

Notable former employees

• George Arnold, former Alcatel-Lucent Standards and Intellectual Property vice president, is currently the chair of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) board of directors. Arnold, who still serves Alcatel-Lucent as a consultant on standards strategy and intellectual property matters, has in the past served as vice-chair of the ANSI board; chair of ANSI's International Committee; and member of its National Issues, Finance and Executive committees.
• William Baker, former president of Bell Labs, was given a lifetime achievement award by the Marconi Foundation for his technological vision and his role as "a diplomat of science." This is the second time in its history that the foundation has given a lifetime achievement award; the previous winner was Claude Shannon, who developed information theory while working at Bell Labs in the late 1940s. Baker was president of Bell Labs from 1973 to 1979 and oversaw the development of the world's first fiber optic communications system. During his tenure, Bell Labs scientists developed the C programming language and won two Nobel Prizes in Physics. Baker had joined Bell Labs in 1939; from 1955 to 1973, he was vice president of research, with overall responsibility for all Bell Labs research programs. He retired in 1980 as chairman of the board of Bell Labs.
• Federico Capasso, former vice president of Physics Research at Bell Labs, was awarded the Duddell Medal and Prize by the London-based Institute of Physics (IOP). Sir Peter Williams, president of the IOP, presented Capasso the award for "contributions to engineering materials and solid-state devices, in particular the invention and demonstration of the quantum cascade laser." The Duddell Medal and Prize, is one of the most prestigious awards in Europe for work in physics. (January 2002) Capasso was also awarded the 2004 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science, endowed by the NEC Corporation and on behalf of the American Physical Society (APS), for his "contributions to the invention and demonstration of the quantum cascade laser and the elucidation of its physics, which bridges quantum electronics, solid-state physics, and materials science." Capasso is now a Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at Harvard University. (December 2003)
• Gerard Holzmann, former director of Bell Labs' Computing Principles Research department, has been selected to receive a 2003 Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award for work performed when he was with Bell Labs. Holzmann shares the award with collaborators and former Bell Labs scientists Ken Thompson and Phil Winterbottom for an invention called "Method and Apparatus for Testing Event Driven Software." The invention has been used to test the flight software for NASA's Mars Pathfinder and Deep Space 1 missions and will be used in future launches for comet exploration. The award will be presented later this fall. Holzmann is currently principal computer scientist in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in its laboratory for Reliable Software. Holzmann also received the prestigious Software System Award from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the world's oldest professional computer association. Holzmann joined previous Bell Labs recipients Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, the developers of UNIX, and John M. Chambers, developer of the S System. Holzmann was cited for his software program called SPIN for having "made advanced theoretical verification methods applicable to large and highly complex software systems." (April 2002)
• Cherry Murray, Bell Labs senior vice president of Physical Sciences Research, was named one of "The 50 Most Important Women in Science" by Discover magazine. The publication cited Murray for her leadership of people, and the development of research strategy for Bell Labs Research. She is known in the scientific community for her pioneering work on colloidal systems — suspensions of small particles that don't settle or dissolve in a liquid. (November 2002)
• Arun Netravali, former Alcatel-Lucent chief scientist and Bell Labs president, was presented an Excellence Award by the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce in Washington on May 7 during the CelebrAsian 2003 Conference. Excellence Awards honor Asian-American achievers for their contributions to America, and American corporations and government agencies for their commitment to Asian-American suppliers. Three days later, Netravali received a 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award from Rice University. Netravali earned master's ('69) and doctorate ('71) degrees in electrical engineering from Rice in Houston, Texas. In April, Level3 Communications named Netravali to its Board of Directors. In May 2002, President George W. Bush announced the selection of Netravali, as one of the recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Technology. The medal, which is the nation's highest honor for achievement in technology, recognizes groundbreaking contributions that help commercialize technologies, create jobs, improve productivity, and stimulate the nation's growth and development. Netravali was cited for his "pioneering contributions that transformed TV from analog to digital, enabling numerous integrated circuits, systems, and services in broadcast TV, CATV, DBS, HDTV, and multimedia over the Internet; and for technical expertise and leadership, which have kept Bell Labs at the forefront in communications technology."
• Dan Stanzione, retired Bell Labs president and Alcatel-Lucent chief operating officer, has been appointed to Continuum Photonics' board of directors. Bell Labs Chief Technical Officer Bob Martin is an advisor to Continuum, a five-year-old start up that is developing an optical switch based on electroactive ceramics. Stanzione served as Bell Labs' eighth president from 1995-1999.