Electrical and computer engineering student wins national award

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Raman Vilkhu
Vilkhu
For the first time since the 1960s, a student from The Ohio State University has won the national 2018 Alton B. Zerby and Carl T. Koerner Outstanding Electrical and Computer Engineering Award.

The winner, alumnus Raman Vilkhu, completed his electrical and computer engineering undergraduate studies in spring 2018, and carried out his Honors Research Thesis at the ElectroScience Lab under the supervision of Assistant Professor Asimina Kiourti. 

“During the course of his studies and research at Ohio State, he wrote multiple journal and conference papers, co-authored a provisional patent, and won multiple national and international awards,” said Kiourti.

Vilkhu is currently pursuing his PhD at Stanford University.

The Alton B. Zerby and Carl T. Koerner Outstanding Student Award is presented by Etta Kappa Nu, the international honor society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Los Angeles area alumni chapter.

According to IEEE, the award recognizes “outstanding scholastic excellence and high moral character, coupled with demonstrated exemplary service to classmates, university, community and country.”

Created in 1965, the award has become a traditional means of providing recognition to deserving electrical engineering students. Previous winners from Ohio State were Thomas L. Niemeyer in 1969 and Thomas L. Thomas in 1966.

In 1975 the name was changed to the “Alton B. Zerby Outstanding Electrical Engineering Student Award” to honor and perpetuate the memory of Alton B. Zerby, a long-time leader and executive secretary of Eta Kappa Nu. In 1993, the name was further changed to include Carl T. Koerner to honor and perpetuate the memory of Mr. Koerner, an HKN member who had a lifelong dedication to Eta Kappa Nu, including serving as its president. Koerner was the fifth recipient of the prestigious HKN Distinguished Service Award (1975) in recognition of his contributions to the field of electrical engineering and to Eta Kappa Nu.

contributed by Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering