The grade of Fellow first appeared in the AIEE constitution of 1912. In that year, the AIEE revised the membership structure and established the grade of Fellow for engineers who demonstrated outstanding proficiency and achieved distinction in their profession. Potential Fellows had to be at least thirty-two years of age, with a minimum of ten years’ experience. When the IRE established its Fellow grade in 1914, the requirements were clearly modeled on those of the AIEE. Much of the wording in the relevant sections of the IRE constitution was identical to the corresponding wording in the AIEE constitution.
For the first several years after the establishment of the Fellow grade, both the AIEE and the IRE allowed members to make direct applications for transfer to Fellow. In both cases, applications had to be accompanied by references from five existing Fellows, and required the approval of the Board of Directors. In 1939, the IRE modified its procedure to make admission or transfer to the fellow grade possible only by direct invitation of the Board of Directors, a policy it maintained until the merger with AIEE in 1963. In 1938, the AIEE modified its constitution to provide that “Applications to the grade of Fellow shall result only from a proposal of five Members or Fellows.” In 1951, the AIEE prohibited self-applications for Fellow grade altogether, and adopted a policy of direct invitation similar to that of the IRE.
As noted above, numerous electrical engineers were members of both the AIEE and the IRE, and many of these became Fellows of both organizations. When the two institutes merged in 1963, AIEE and IRE Fellows automatically became Fellows of the IEEE. In 1942, the IRE had begun to issue citation to new Fellows, briefly describing their accomplishments. The AIEE followed suit in 1952, and the IEEE continued the practice after the merger.
Today, the IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the Board of Directors upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. A brief citation is issued to new Fellows describing their accomplishments and the total number of selected in any year does not exceed one-tenth percent of the total voting Institute membership.
Below is a listing, in alphabetical order of IAS members who have been elevated to the grade of Fellow and who have been actively involved in PCIC:
Austin H. Bonnett (F’92), “For technical leadership in the manufacturing, design, application, operation and maintenance of ac induction motors.”
James E. Bowen (F’10), “For leadership in “safety by design” in electrical substation engineering.”
Richard J. Buschart (F’98), “For development of an analytical electrical area classification system to provide for superior levels of safety.”
Mary Capelli-Schellpfeffer (F’06), “For contributions to the prevention and treatment of electric shock and arc blast injury.”
James M. Daly (F’94), “For contributions to the application of electrical wire and cable, and leadership in electrotechnical standards development.”
Frank A. Dewinter (F’04), “For contributions to the development and application of medium voltage adjustable speed drives.”
Gary L. Donner (F’05), “For contributions to standards for circuit breakers and motors.”
Richard L. Doughty (F’95), “For contributions to electrical safety in the petrochemical industry.”
Tim S. Driscoll (F’08), “For leadership in the development of codes and standards for electrical safety in industry.”
Joseph S. Dudor (F’96), “For leadership in the development of electrotechnical standards and for contributions in the engineering of electric power systems in industrial facilities.”
Marcus O. Durham (F’93), “For contributions to the theory and application of downhole submersible pumps and poser equipment.”
Robert A. Durham (F’19), “For contributions to submersible electrical equipment analysis and multi-point ground methods in hazardous petroleum and chemical environments.”
James H. Dymond (F’06), “For contributions to the analysis, design, optimization, testing and application of large AC Machines.”
- James Erickson (F’89), “For developments in the use of electrical heating in the pipeline industry”
Eugene J. Fagan (F’90), “For contributions to and development of grounding for buildings and structures.”
William R. Finley (F’15), “For leadership in global standardization of electric motors and energy conservation.”
- Landis Floyd, II (F’00), “For contributions to improve workplace electrical safety.”
Robert A. Hanna (F’04), “For contributions to the applications of medium voltage adjustable speed drives and power quality.”
Paul S. Hamer (F’97), “For contributions to performance standards for motors and generators in the petro-chemical industry.”
Herbert N. Hickcok, Jr. (F’92), “For contributions to conversion of energy in industrial power distribution systems and process electrical drives.”
Richard H. Hulett (F’03), “For technical leadership in advancing safe and reliable application of electrical resistance heat tracing cables to maintain fluid temperatures in pipelines.”
Ronald M. Jackson (F’91), “For contributions for the development of electrical specifications for the petroleum industry and leadership in advancing the profession of electrical engineering.”
Ben C. Johnson (F’97), “For the development of standards, and application of technology for electric surface heating.”
Ray A. Jones (F’08), “For leadership in the development and integration of electrical safety codes and standards in the workplace.”
John A. Kay (F’12), “For contributions to arc resistant medium voltage control and protection technologies.”
Sheldon P. Kennedy (F’16), “For leadership in the technology and standards for rectifier, inverter and harmonic-mitigating transformers.”
Roger G. Lawrence (F’10), “For contributions to energy efficient Adjustable Speed Drive systems.”
Raphael C. Lee (F’06), “For contributions to biophysics of cellular and tissue injury by electric currents and development of polymers for repair of cellular damage.”
William E. Lockley (F’06), “For leadership in the development and application of large electric drive systems for gas compression”
John Malinowski (F’19), “For contributions to motor efficiency manufacturing regulations and standards.”
- Bruce McClung (F’90), “For leadership in the development of improved electrical insulations and their impact on safety and reliability of electrical conductors and equipment.”
Donald H. McIntosh (F’86), “For leadership in the development of national electrical standards.”
Edgar F. Merrill (F’93), “For contributions to the development and design of ac motors.”
Daleep C. Mohla (F’06), “For contributions to electrical safety design concepts and methods to reduce workplace hazards.”
Richard L. Nailen (F”93), “For technical leadership in electric motor applications.”
Thomas E. Neal (F’11), “For leadership in quantifying arc flash exposure, clothing ignition and arc ratings for worker protection.”
John P. Nelson (F’97), “For contributions to the protection of electrical equipment and to personnel safety in the petroleum and chemical industry.”
Edward L. Owen (F’04), “For contributions to AC adjustable-speed drives.”
Lorraine K. Padden (F’24), ‘For contributions for development of standards for motor protection and applications in industry.”
Kevin L. Peterson (F’17), “For leadership in global standardization of commercial shore-to-ship power systems “
John E. Propst (F’02), “For contributions to the modeling of risk and reliability in industrial electrical systems.”
Chester L. Sandberg (F’00), “For contributions to the design, monitoring and control of electrical heat tracing for industrial and commercial applications.”
Vincent Saporita (F’11), “For contributions to workplace safety through the application of fusing technology.”
Lynn F. Saunders (F’00), “For leadership in standards development for power distribution design, operation, safety, and maintenance.”
PK Sen (F’11), “For leadership in arc flash hazard research and electrical safety curriculum “
Thomas R. Shaw (F’80), “For contributions to the utilization of electrical power, control and communications in the petroleum industry.”
Farrokh Shokooh (F’94), “For contributions to the development of computer simulation and modeling techniques for electrical power systems, and leadership in electrical power engineering education.”
Andrew W. Smith (F’96), “For leadership in integrating IEEE opportunities with industrial application needs.”
Jay A. Stewart (F’95), “For technical leadership in the development of standards for the specification, installation, and safe operation of electrical power systems for process industries.”
Marcelo Valdes (F’18), “For contributions to improving the safety and reliability of low voltage power systems.”
Craig M. Wellman (F’10), “For development of methods for calculating incident energy from electrical arc-flash sources.”
Barry M. Wood (F’03), “For contributions to high-speed motors and adjustable speed drives for the petrochemical industry.”
Moon H. Yuen (F’91), “For contributions to electrical distribution systems analyses and synthesis including the development of simplified methods of determining system transient conditions.”
Donald W. Zipse (F’94), “For leadership in implementing technology for industrial codes and standards.”