The Feynman Teaching Prize, the Highest Teaching Honor of California University of Technology, Awarded to Ali Hajimiri, A Graduate of Sharif University of Technology
Dr. Ali Hajimiri, Bren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science, received Caltech’s 2019 Feynman Prize for excellence in teaching.
Hajimiri was nominated for the Feynman Prize by undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, and fellow faculty members. He teaches two Electrical Engineering courses at Caltech which cover difficult topics that have the potential to be challenging, but Hajimiri’s passion, humor, and insights brings the subjects to life, said by his students. The prize was established in 1993 to annually honor a professor who demonstrates, in the broadest sense, unusual ability, creativity, and innovation in undergraduate and graduate classroom or laboratory teaching.
He is also a co-recipient of the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) Jack Kilby Outstanding Paper Award and a three-time winner of the IBM faculty partnership award as well as National Science Foundation CAREER award. In 2016, he was named Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) in honor of his outstanding accomplishments.
Hajimiri, who was the Gold medal winner of the National Physics Competition and the Bronze Medal winner of the 21st International Physics Olympiad, Groningen, Netherlands, completed his undergraduate degree in Electronic Engineering at Sharif University of Technology in 1994, and later on received his Master’s and Doctorate Degrees in the same major from Stanford University.
In 1998 he joined the California Institute of Technology as an Associate Professor of Electronic Engineering and Head of Microelectronics and Noise Laboratories. His main research interests are high-speed and high-frequency electronics and photonics integrated circuits for applications in sensors, biomedical devices, photonics, and communication systems.
