Gupta wins 2017 George Sinclair Award

The highest honor bestowed on ElectroScience Laboratory faculty at The Ohio State University was presented this week to Inder "Jiti" Gupta for his respected work as both mentor and scientist.  

ESL interim director, Robert Burkholder, said the George Sinclair Award recognizes faculty technical contributions and service to ESL. It honors its namesake, George Sinclair, who exhibited a career of exemplary standards in his own technical research and administrative leadership at the Antenna Laboratory (later to become ESL), which he founded in 1942.

Burkholder said Gupta was recognized in 2017 for his “research excellence, mentoring of researchers and students, as well as his leadership in establishing the international-recognized program in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), and spearheading the formation of the ESL Consortium on EM and Radio Frequencies (CERF) and the Consortium of Ohio Universities on navigation and Timekeeping (COUNT).”

Gupta is Retiree-Faculty Emeritus in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Ohio State, and remains active in research.

For the audience of faculty and friends at ESL Monday, Gupta said he felt very grateful. He also shone the light back on his research team members. 

“This award recognizes our entire group,” Gupta said. “You let me get this, and it’s all truly your doing.”

Gupta said the research conducted at ESL is known worldwide, and its innovations are celebrated for it. However, being recognized by his own colleagues is very meaningful.

“It is truly a great honor,” he said. 

When he first came to Ohio State and ESL, Gupta said he would look up at the names on the plaques on the wall and think about their achievements.

“Just having your name with all those people,” he said. “I never thought one day my name would be added with them.”

Part of the nomination committee, Ohio State Electrical and Computer Engineering Chair Joel Johnson said Gupta is very deserving of the award for his work reaching and expanding the focus of ESL worldwide. 

With all his research and accomplishments over the years, Gupta said, people sometimes ask him for advice on how to stay motivated and optimistic. 

“I never felt stressed,” he said, "because I know once someone closes a door, there is going to be another door opening.”

Previous George Sinclair recipients include John Volakis, Edward Kennaugh, Walter Burnside and others spanning back to 1980 when it was created. 

Gupta earned his BS from Punjab University, India in 1975 and his MS from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 1977, before receiving his Ph.D. from Ohio State in 1982. He remained at Ohio State ECE ever since. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Institute of Navigation (ION), and an Edmond S. Gillespie Fellow of Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA). He is the recipient of the 2007 AMTA Distinguished Achievement Award, and received Ohio State’s College of Engineering Lumley Research Awards in 1991, 1998, 2005 and 2011. More recently, he received the Captain P.V.H. Weems Award from the Institute of Navigation for his continuous contributions to the art and science of navigation.

Gupta’s research focuses on radar imaging, EM scattering, compact range technology, adaptive antennas and target identification.