Andrea Goldsmith Is the First Woman to Earn the Highest Honor in Telecommunications Research

Andrea Goldsmith, an expert and entrepreneur in wireless systems, has been awarded the Marconi Prize. Awarded by the San Francisco-based Marconi Society, the prize is considered the highest honor in telecommunications research.

Vint Cerf, chair of the Marconi Society, stated that “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.” In addition to her contributions to research and business, the Marconi Society recognized Goldsmith’s “leadership to radically improve diversity and inclusion in engineering.”

Dr. Goldsmith is the first woman ever to win the prize, now in its 45th year. The prize includes an award of $100,000, which Goldsmith said she will donate back to the Marconi Society to start an endowment that will fund technology and diversity initiatives.

Dr. Goldsmith recently was appointed the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical Engineering and dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University in New Jersey, effective September 1. Currently, she is the Stephen Harris Professor of Engineering and professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University in California. Before joining the Stanford faculty in 1999, Professor Goldsmith taught at the California Institute of Technology.

Dr. Goldsmith received her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.