Charles Wilts Prize
The Doctoral Prize named after Charles H. Wilts has been instituted by his Caltech colleagues and was endowed by his friends, students, and colleagues as a lasting tribute to the scientist, the teacher, and the man he was. The mark of his science was excellence. His teaching was rigorous and his demands were high, but attainable when his own path of exactitude followed. Most of all, it is the man that the prize wants to honor. He loved nature enthusiastically, had a disarming personal simplicity with an engaging smile and laugh, and possessed an unbending integrity and rectitude he placed above any concerns for fame, power, or profit. He deeply respected his fellow men.
The Charles Wilts Prize is awarded every year to one EE graduate student for outstanding independent research in electrical engineering leading to a PhD.
2020
Lei Li
Advisor: Lihong Wang
Thesis: Multi-contrast Photoacoustic Computed Tomography
2019
Srikanth Venkata Tenneti
Advisor: P. P. Vaidyanathan
Thesis: The Nested Periodic Subspaces: Extensions of Ramanujan Sums for Period Estimation
2018
Behrooz Abiri
Advisor: Ali Hajimiri
Thesis: Silicon Integrated Arrays: From Microwave to IR
2017
Manuel Alejandro Monge Osorio
Advisor: Azita Emami
Thesis: Localization and Stimulation Techniques for Implantable Medical Electronics
2017
Changhong Zhao
Advisor: Steven Low
Thesis: Real-Time Load-Side Control of Electric Power Systems
2016
Roarke Horstmeyer
Advisor: Changhuei Yang
Thesis: Computational Microscopy: Turning Megapixels into Gigapixels
2015
Carlos Roberto Gonzalez
Advisors: Yaser Abu-Mostafa and Pietro Perona
Thesis: Optimal Data Distributions in Machine Learning
2015
Samet Oymak
Advisor: Babak Hassibi
Thesis: Convex Relaxation for Low-Dimensional Representation: Phase Transitions and Limitations
2014
Piya Pal
Advisor: P P Vaidyanathan
Thesis: New directions in sparse sampling and estimation for underdetermined systems
2013
Kaushik Sengupta
Advisor: Ali Hajimiri
Thesis: Silicon-based Terahertz Circuits and Systems
2013
Hongchao Zhou
Advisor: Shuki Bruck
Thesis: Randomness and Noise in Information Systems
2012
Mohammad Amin Khajehnejad
Advisor: Babak Hassibi
Thesis: Combinatorial Regression and Improved Basis Pursuit for Sparse Estimation
2012
Ching-Chih Weng
Advisor: PP Vaidyanathan
Thesis: The Role of Majorization and Generalized Triangular Decomposition in Communication and Signal Processing
2011
Edward A. Keehr
Advisor: Ali Hajimiri
Thesis: Techniques for Mixed-Signal Linearization and Large Signal Handling in Radio-Frequency Receiver Circuits
2010
Weiyu Xu
Advisor: Babak Hassibi
Thesis: Compressive Sensing for Sparse Approximations: Constructions, Algorithms, and Analysis.
2009
Aydin Babakhani
Advisor: Ali Hajimiri
Thesis: Near-Field Direct Antenna Modulation (NFDAM) for on-chip mm-wave transceivers
2008
Borching Su
Advisor: P.P. Vaidyanathan
Thesis: Blind Channel Estimation Using Redundant Precoding: New Algorithms, Analysis, and Theory
2007
Ao Kevin Tang
Advisor: Steven Low
Thesis: Heterogeneous Congestion Control Protocols
2006
Masoud Sharif
Advisor: Babak Hassibi
Thesis: Broadband Wireless Broadcast Channels: Throughput, Performance, and PAPR Reduction
2005
Deniz Armani
Advisor: Kerry Vahala
Thesis: Ultra-High-Q Planar Microcavities and Applications
2004
Andre Tkacenko
Advisor: P.P. Vaidyanathan
Thesis: Optimization Algorithms for Realizable Signal-Adapted Filter Banks
2004
Marc Riedel
Advisor: Jehoshua (Shuki) Bruck
Thesis: Cyclic Combinational Circuits
2003
Shayan Mookherjea
Advisor: Amnon Yariv
Thesis: Coupled-resonator Optical Waveguides and Multiplexed Solitons
2003
Massimo Franceschetti
Advisor: Jehoshua (Shuki) Bruck
Thesis: Wireless Networks, from Collective Behavior to the Physics of Propagation
2002
Donhee Ham
Advisor: Ali Hajimiri
Thesis: Statistical Electronics: Noise Processes in Integrated Communication Systems
2001
Srinivas Mandayam Aji
Advisor: Robert McEliece
Thesis: Graphical Models and Iterative Decoding
2000
Ali Adibi
Advisor: Demetri Psaltis
Thesis: Persistent Holographic Storage in Photorefractive Crystals
1999
Mohamed-Slim Alouini
Advisor: Andrea Goldsmith
Thesis: Adaptive and Diversity Techniques for Wireless Digital Communications Over Fading Channels
1998
Malik Magdon-Ismail
Advisor: Yaser Abu-Mostafa
Thesis: Supervised Learning in Probabilistic Environments
1997
See-May Phoong
Advisor: P.P. Vaidyanathan
Thesis: Time-Varying and Finite Field Filter Banks
1996
Fernando Paganini Herrera
Advisor: John Doyle
Thesis: Sets and Constraints in the Analysis of Uncertain Systems
1995
Sidney Li Hsin-Yu
Advisor: Demetri Psaltis
Thesis: Photorefractive 3-D Disks for Optical Data Storage and Artificial Neural Networks
1994
Enrico Santi
Advisor: Slobodan Cuk
Thesis: Magnetics and Control in Power Electronics: I. Modeling of Coupled Inductors. II. One-Cycle Control of Switching Converters.
1993
Tsuhan Chen
Advisor: P.P. Vaidyanathan
Thesis: Multidimensional Multirate Filters and Filter Banks: Theory, Design, and Implementation
1992
Ian Andrew Galton
Advisor: Edward C. Posner
Thesis: An Analysis of Quantization Noise in Delta-Sigma Modulation and Its Application to Parallel Delta-Sigma Modulation