On March 27, 2012, Professor Björn Ottersten, Director of the University of Luxembourg's Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT), will be the recipient of this year's IEEE Signal Processing Society's Technical Achievement Award in Kyoto, Japan. 

The internationally renowned award honors outstanding achievements in the field of information and communication technology (ICT). By making him the recipient of this year's award, the IEEE recognizes Ottersten for his outstanding contributions to the fields of science and technology, which have substantially helped shape ICT over the past several decades.

"We are immensely proud of Björn Ottersten for being this year's recipient of this important award" Professor Rolf Tarrach, University of Luxembourg's President, says.  "Over the last few years, SnT's scientific achievements as well as its international interconnectedness with both the academic community and industry have been a testament to the consistently highest caliber of Björn Ottersten's work.  The Technical Achievement Award emphatically underscores this, while giving SnT and the University of Luxembourg even more international visibility."

Björn Ottersten was chosen for this award specifically for his work in array-signal processing and wireless communication - both of these areas that have been the 'red thread' of Ottersten's successful career.  Which theoretical approaches must be pursued and worked out in order to use multiple channels in complex communication systems in parallel to increase their performance?  Ever since his doctoral studies at Stanford University, USA, this has been the scientific challenge that has captured Björn Ottersten's interest, accompanying him at a number of academic institutions in Sweden, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and which has matured into economic applicability also through the successful founding of a tech company in Silicon Valley.    

Ottersten's research has always emphasized practical relevance and application - incidentally an important prerequisite for any scientist to become a candidate for the Technical Achievement Award.  "Of course the theoretical foundations for research are essential," Ottersten concedes.  "However, it is imperative that when dealing with these we also don't lose sight of practical concerns.  The scientist who is only concerned with scientific detail quickly loses sight of the bigger picture."

Björn Ottersten's uncanny ability to always make reference to practical application while never once losing sight of the bigger ICT picture is a very useful skill for SnT's Director to have, precisely because it is at this interdisciplinary institute that concrete challenges today's tech companies are faced with are being addressed from a basic science point of view. "The SnT team understands in which direction technologies are moving, where the actual boundaries lie, and which topics must be dealt with long-term," Ottersten explains. This is in fact the prerequisite for making a lasting scientific and technological impact through SnT's numerous partnerships with industry. "It allows us to create a true competitive edge for Luxembourg and ensure that the country remains an international leader in ICT."

About Björn Ottersten: Björn Ottersten (S’87–M’89–SM’99–F’04) was born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1961. He received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering and applied physics from Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden, in 1986 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University, Stanford, CA, in 1989. Since 2009, he has been Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and trust (SnT) at the University of Luxembourg. His research interests include wireless communications, stochastic signal processing, sensor array processing, and time-series analysis.
Ottersten has held research positions at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Linköping University; the Information Systems Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA; and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. In 1991, he was appointed Professor of signal processing at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, where he was head of the Department for Signals, Sensors, and Systems from 1992 to 2004 and Dean of the School of Electrical Engineering from 2004 to 2008. During 1996–1997, he was Director of Research at ArrayComm Inc, San Jose, CA, a start-up company based on Ottersten’s patented technology.

Dr. Ottersten has coauthored papers that received an IEEE Signal Processing Society Best Paper Award in 1993, 2001, and 2006, and three IEEE conference papers that received Best Paper Awards. He has served as Associate Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SIGNAL PROCESSING and on the Editorial Board of the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the EURASIP Signal Processing Journal and a member of the Editorial Board of the EURASIP Journal of Advances Signal Processing.  In 2011 he received the IEEE Signal Processing Society Technical Achievement Award. He is a first recipient of the ERC Advanced Grant.

About SnT: Launched in 2009 by the University of Luxembourg, SnT is an internationally leading research facility that together with external partners establishes Luxembourg as a European centre of excellence and innovation for secure, reliable, and trustworthy information and communications technologies (ICT). To create great impact, SnT follows an interdisciplinary research approach, taking not only technical aspects into account but also addressing business, human, and regulatory issues. SnT provides a platform for interaction and collaboration between university researchers and external partners.  www.uni.lu/snt

About IEEE: IEEE is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. IEEE stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The association and its members inspire a global community through IEEE's highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities.
www.ieee.org/