David Jiles, Distinguished Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Iowa State University, has recently received a prestigious honor, the 2019 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Magnetics Society Distinguished Service Award. This award was established to honor outstanding service to the Magnetics Society.
“I am delighted to receive this award,” Jiles said. “I didn’t think that I would get considered for it.”
Recipients like Jiles are characterized by sustained voluntary service to the Magnetics Society significantly beyond the typical. The award is presented at the Intermag Conference each year and consists of a certificate and cash prize.
Jiles has given over 20 years of leadership in the Magnetics Society, first as Editor and then as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Magnetics and as an elected member of the Administrative Committee. He joined the IEEE in 1984 beginning as a Member and then subsequently as a Senior Member, a Fellow (1994) and now as a Life Fellow (2019).
During that time, he has served many terms on the Magnetics Society’s Administrative Committee and on the Publications Committee as Editor of IEEE Transactions on Magnetics (1992-2005) and subsequently Editor-in-Chief (2005-11). He also served on the Magnetics Society’s Fellow Evaluation Committee (2006-09).
Jiles is Anson Marston Distinguished Professor of Engineering at ISU and holds the Stanley Chair of Interdisciplinary Engineering. He was the first holder of the Palmer Endowed Department Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and immediately prior to that, he was the Director of the Wolfson Centre for Magnetics and Professor of Magnetics at Cardiff University in the U.K.
While at Cardiff, he worked as a collaborating Distinguished Professor with ISU and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory. He holds the rank of Senior Scientist at Ames Laboratory, is an Honorary Professor at Cardiff University’s School of Engineering and is a Visiting Professor at Sheffield University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
He earned the B.Sc. in physics and mathematics from the University of Exeter, the M.Sc. in nuclear physics from the University of Birmingham, the Ph.D. in applied physics from the University of Hull and the D.Sc. in physics and space research from the University of Birmingham. His research interests include biomedical applications of magnetic fields; nonlinear and hysteretic behavior of magnetic materials and applications of magnetic measurements to nondestructive evaluation.
Jiles has authored more than 700 scientific papers, has published three textbooks, including Introduction to Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (third edition, CRC Press, 2015), and holds 19 patents. In addition to being a Life Fellow of the IEEE, he is a Life Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the Institute of Physics, the Institute of Materials and the Institute of Mathematics and Its Applications. He was the founder of the Topical Group on Magnetism and Its Applications (GMAG) of the American Physical Society and served as its inaugural chair.
But not only has Jiles recently received the 2019 IEEE Magnetics Society Distinguished Service Award; he also has been selected as an IEEE Life Fellow.
Obtaining a Life Fellowship from IEEE is specifically reserved for individuals who have shown lasting contributions to IEEE. Life Fellows typically serve as reviewers, editors and conference organizers.
Jiles was an editor and editor-in-chief during his time in IEEE.
“I am very delighted about this Lifetime Fellowship,” Jiles said. “It’s nice to get some recognition for the years of work as a volunteer for the IEEE.”
To earn a lifetime fellow from IEEE, there is a specific formula that one must qualify for. A recipient of the honor must be 65 years old or older and have a history of volunteering for IEEE for at least 35 years.
Jiles is a qualifier for both of these requirements, just recently turning 65. Yet, Jiles was still not expecting the award.
“In the back of my mind, I thought, ‘Well, maybe one day I may get something like that.’ I was very surprised when I found out that I got it, and delighted of course,” Jiles said.