Why Is Sam Altman a Free Man?

OpenAI is building out the pieces of an alternative to the traditional app store model, turning ChatGPT into a place where software can be discovered and used by people and AI agents alike.

OpenAI’s latest features take direct aim at the app store model

Every year, IEEE recognizes individual researchers, innovators, and collaborative teams whose technical achievements and leadership have made a lasting impact on technology, engineering, and society worldwide with its Technical Field Awards.The honorees are selected by the IEEE Awards Board based on their extraordinary technical achievements, societal impact, and leadership in specialized engineering disciplines and are approved by the IEEE Board of Directors.“The 2027 IEEE Technical Field Award recipients embody the relentless spirit of innovation and ingenuity that defines our global community,” said Mary Ellen Randall, 2026 IEEE president and CEO in a news release. “Across microelectronics, artificial intelligence, medical robotics, wireless networks, energy conversion, and technical education, their groundbreaking accomplishments continue to push the boundaries of science and solve critical challenges for the benefit of humanity.”IEEE Technical Field Award recipientsIEEE Biomedical Engineering AwardSponsors: IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology, IEEE Circuits and Systems, and IEEE Signal Processing societiesIEEE Life Fellow Kullervo HynynenSunnybrook Research Institute in Toronto, and the University of Toronto“For pioneering contributions to the development, advancement, and clinical translation of therapeutic ultrasound.”IEEE Cledo Brunetti AwardSponsor: The Brunetti BequestIEEE Member Edward Charles GageIEEE Fellow Ganping JuIEEE Fellow Jan-Ulrich ThieleSeagate Technology in Cupertino, Calif.“For contributions to heat-assisted magnetic technology powering ultra-high-capacity hard disk drives and enabling greater storage of digital information.”IEEE Roger W. Brockett Control Systems AwardSponsors: IEEE Control Systems Society and Friends and Family of Roger W. BrockettIEEE Life Fellow Arjan van der SchaftBernoulli Institute at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands (Retired)“For contributions to robust and geometric approaches to nonlinear control, hybrid systems, and the control of physical systems.”IEEE Electromagnetics AwardSponsors: IEEE Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing, and IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology societiesIEEE Fellow Zoya PopovićUniversity of Colorado Boulder“For contributions to microwave and millimeter-wave circuit designs, including power amplifiers, power-combining, and wireless power systems.”IEEE James L. Flanagan Speech and Audio Processing AwardSponsor: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL)IEEE Life Fellow Chin-Hui LeeGeorgia Tech“For contributions to and leadership in technologies that enable automatic speech and speaker recognition, including innovations in adaptive learning and discriminative training.”IEEE Fourier Award for Signal ProcessingSponsor: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL)IEEE Fellow Nicholas Dimitrios SidiropoulosUniversity of Virginia in Charlottesville“For contributions to signal processing methods for analyzing complex data and identifying patterns in multiple dimensions.”IEEE Andrew S. Grove AwardSponsor: IEEE Electron Devices SocietyIEEE Fellow John Robert BrewsUniversity of Arizona in Tucson (Retired)“For foundational contributions to the physics and technology underlying MOS devices and circuits.”IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Technology AwardSponsor: Sony Group CorporationIEEE Honorary Member Mike LazaridisQuantum Valley Investments in Waterloo, Ont., Canada“For transformative contributions to mobile communication through visionary leadership that reshaped global consumer technology.”IEEE Internet AwardSponsor: Google LLCIEEE Fellow Matthew RoughanAdelaide University in Australia“For foundational contributions to analyzing Internet traffic and network structures, enabling better network management and understanding.”IEEE Richard Harold Kaufmann AwardSponsor: IEEE Industry Applications SocietyIEEE Fellow Akshay Kumar RathoreNational University of Singapore“For developing innovative current-fed and multilevel power electronics converters.”IEEE Joseph F. Keithley Award in Instrumentation and MeasurementSponsors: Tektronix Inc. and the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement SocietyIEEE Life Fellow Pasquale DaponteUniversity of Sannio in Benevento, Italy“For contributions to the measurement and standardization of analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters.”IEEE Gustav Robert Kirchhoff AwardSponsor: IEEE Circuits and Systems SocietyIEEE Life Fellow Janusz RajskiSiemens Digital Industries Software in Wilsonville, Ore.“For contributions to testing digital integrated circuits at the silicon level.”IEEE Leon K. Kirchmayer Graduate Teaching AwardSponsor: The IEEE Leon K. Kirchmayer Memorial Fund IEEE Life Fellow Rama ChellappaJohns Hopkins University in Baltimore“For contributions to multi-disciplinary graduate education and mentoring of doctoral students in image processing, computer vision, and pattern recognition.”IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications AwardSponsor: NEC CorporationIEEE Member Amin VahdatGoogle in Mountain View, Calif.“For developing network systems that scale data centers to support modern cloud computing and machine learning.”IEEE Arun N. Netravali Video Analytics, Technology, and Systems AwardSponsor: Nokia Bell LabsIEEE Life Member Jens-Rainer OhmRWTH Aachen University in Germany (Professor Emeritus)IEEE Life Fellow Gary J. SullivanDolby Laboratories in San Francisco IEEE Member Benjamin BrossFraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications Heinrich-Hertz-Institut in Berlin“For leadership in and contributions to developing the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) international standard, which improves the efficiency of digital video compression.”IEEE William E. Newell Power Electronics AwardSponsor: IEEE Power Electronics SocietyIEEE Fellow Paolo MattavelliUniversity of Padova in Padua, Italy “For contributions to advanced modeling and control of power electronics converters.”IEEE Donald O. Pederson Award in Solid-State CircuitsSponsor: IEEE Solid-State Circuits SocietyIEEE Life Fellow Wanda Kay GassTexas Instruments in Bellevue, Wash. (Retired)“For pioneering contributions to programmable digital signal processing systems through innovations in circuit design, system architecture, and silicon compilers.”IEEE Frederik Philips AwardSponsor: The IEEE Frederik Philips Award FundRecipient: IEEE Member Ann B. KelleherIntel in Portland, Ore. (Retired)“For leading the historic advancement of CMOS process technology, culminating in the first node with backside power delivery.”IEEE Photonics AwardSponsor: IEEE Photonics SocietyIEEE Life Fellow Martin David DawsonUniversity of Strathclyde in Glasgow“For contributions to microstructured and wide-bandgap semiconductor optoelectronics and for leadership in technological innovation.”IEEE Robotics and Automation AwardSponsor: IEEE Robotics and Automation SocietyIEEE Life Fellow Russell H. TaylorJohns Hopkins University in Baltimore“For contributions to, leadership in, and the clinical translation of surgical and medical robotics.”IEEE Frank Rosenblatt AwardSponsor: IEEE Computational Intelligence SocietyIEEE Life Fellow Shun-ichi AmariTeikyo University in Tokyo“For foundational contributions to neural network theory and information geometry.”IEEE Marie Sklodowska-Curie AwardSponsor: IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences SocietyVictor MalkaWeizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel“For leadership in the development of laser-driven particle sources and advancing the technology toward practical applications.”IEEE Innovation in Societal Infrastructure AwardSponsors: Hitachi, Ltd. and the IEEE Computer SocietyIEEE Fellow Jaideep VaidyaRutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.IEEE Senior Member Lucila Ohno-MachadoYale School of MedicineIEEE Senior Member Xiaoqian JiangThe University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston“For leadership in designing and deploying privacy-preserving distributed clinical research infrastructures that enable secure, large-scale collaboration using health data.”IEEE Charles Proteus Steinmetz AwardSponsor: IEEE Standards AssociationIEEE Life Fellow Mehmet UlemaManhattan University in New York City (Professor Emeritus)“For leadership in the development and standardization of architecture, management, and protocols used in wireless communications and data networks.”IEEE Eric E. Sumner AwardSponsor: Nokia Bell LabsIEEE Fellow Gerhard FettweisTechnische Universität Dresden Barkhausen Institut in Germany“For contributions to physical-layer communication technology that have had an impact on the global wireless industry.”IEEE Nikola Tesla AwardSponsors: Wolong Electric Group Co. Ltd. and the IEEE Industry Applications and IEEE Power & Energy societiesIEEE Life Fellow Pragasen PillayConcordia University in Montreal“For contributions to the modeling, design, and application of electric machines in industrial, transportation, and renewable energy applications.”IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu AwardSponsors: The late Dr. Kiyo Tomiyasu and the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing and the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology societiesIEEE Fellow Yun Raymond FuNortheastern University in Boston“For contributions to computer vision and augmented human-machine interaction.”IEEE Transportation Technologies AwardSponsors: IEEE Industry Applications, IEEE Industrial Electronics, IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems, IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology, IEEE Power Electronics, IEEE Power & Energy, and IEEE Vehicular Technology societiesIEEE Fellow Chunting Chris MiSan Diego State University“For contributions to advancing electric and hybrid electric vehicle technologies.”IEEE Rao R. Tummala Electronics Packaging AwardSponsors: IEEE Electronics Packaging Society and Friends of Rao R. TummalaIEEE Fellow Ravi MahajanIntel in Chandler, Ariz.“For contributions to the development of technology that connects multiple chips within advanced electronic packages.”IEEE Undergraduate Teaching AwardSponsor: IEEE Education SocietyIEEE Fellow Rhonda Rene FranklinUniversity of Minnesota in Minneapolis“For leadership in advancing inclusive workforce development initiatives that create clear and accessible career pathways via undergraduate engineering education.”IEEE Lotfi A. Zadeh Award for Emerging TechnologiesSponsor: IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics SocietyIEEE Life Fellow Peng ShiAdelaide University in Australia“For contributions to artificial intelligence-based methods for robust control and filtering in complex systems.”Nominate a colleague Nominations are now open for the 2028 Technical Field Awards. The deadline to submit a nomination is 15 January.For more information on the awards, please visit the IEEE Awards webpage.

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