Gary S. Brown, Bradley Distinguished Professor of Electromagnetics in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the title of “professor emeritus” by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

The title of emeritus may be conferred on retired professors and associate professors, administrative officers, librarians, and exceptional staff members who are specially recommended to the board of visitors by Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board of visitors receive an emeritus certificate from the university.

A member of the Virginia Tech community since 1985, Brown was principal investigator on grants researching the effects of the natural environment on electromagnetic wave propagation and scattering in radar and communication systems. He wrote or co-wrote more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports.

His work as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Sensors and Propagation Panel of the Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development Program brought significant prestige to Virginia Tech. Brown served on science advisory panels and proposal review panels for the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Academy of Science and Engineering, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation.

Brown has held leadership positions in his professional organizations, including president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Antennas and Propagation Society, chair of the United States National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science, and associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, and Radio Science.

His achievements have been recognized with many professional honors and awards, including the Millennium Medal and election as Fellow in the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois, and he received NASA Group Achievement Awards for the Pioneer Venus Orbiter Science Team and the GEOS-3 Project Team.

Brown directed eight master’s degree and 10 doctoral students and served on more than 30 master’s degree and doctoral degree committees in the college's Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He taught both undergraduate and graduate courses and was very active in the Undergraduate Honor System.

Brown received his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

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