Distinguished University Professor Emeritus Richard Gitlin
The 2025 for exceptional contributions to communications and networking sciences, often considered the 鈥淣obel Prize鈥� for communications technology, has been awarded to Distinguished University Professor Emeritus Richard D. Gitlin, a professor in USF鈥檚 Institute for Advanced Discovery & Innovation and retired Senior Vice President for Communications and Networking Research at Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies.
Dr. Gitlin will receive the award at the IEEE Summit in Tokyo in April in recognition of his high-impact foundational contributions to the development of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems. His groundbreaking work at Bell Labs during the 1980s and 1990s played a pivotal role in shaping these transformative technologies, which are now cornerstones of modern telecommunications.
At Bell Labs, where he worked for 32 years, Dr. Gitlin co-invented innovative methods for wideband digital signal transmission over telephone lines, forming the foundation of DSL technology. This breakthrough enabled high-speed internet access via existing copper telephone infrastructure. He also made significant contributions to the advancement of smart antenna technology, known as MIMO for cellular and wifi systems. This innovation enhances wireless communication capacity and reliability by leveraging multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver ends.
These contributions have profoundly influenced the telecommunications industry, enabling the widespread availability of high-speed internet and advancing wireless communication systems.
At USF, where he served as a 21st Century Scholar, the Agere Systems Chaired Professor of Electrical Engineering and a Distinguished University Professor from 2008 to 2019, Dr. Gitlin created a novel wireless robot for laparoscopic surgery, an innovative vectorcardiogram to predict cardiac events and technology to improve the capacity and reliability of wireless systems. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, 2017 inductee into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame and an a AAAS, IEEE and Bell Labs Fellow. He earned bachelor鈥檚 degree in electrical engineering from The City College of New York and a Master鈥檚 and Eng.Sc.D. from Columbia University.