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History
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James F. Gibbons
Professor Gibbons received a BS degree at Northwestern University in
1953 and a PhD from Stanford in 1956. He joined the Stanford faculty in
1957, was appointed professor of electrical engineering in 1964, and dean
of the School of Engineering in 1984. In 1983 he was named Reid Weaver Dennis
Professor of Electrical Engineering, and in 1984 the Frederick Emmons Terman
Dean of the School of Engineering. He served as Dean from September 1984
to June 1996.
His principal research interests are in the fields of semiconductor device
analysis, process physics and technology and solar energy. He is the author
of four textbooks in semiconductor electronics, four research monographs
in the fields of ion implantation and beam processing of semiconductors
and over 250 papers. He received the IEEE Jack A. Morton Award (1980), the
Texas Instruments Founder's Prize (1982), the Semiconductor Industry Associationís
University Research Award (1996), and the American Electronics Association
Medal of Achievement (1996) for his pioneering research in the use of ion
implantation and rapid thermal processing techniques for solid-state physics
and technology.
In 1972, he invented the Tutored Video Instruction process, which he and
his colleagues at Stanford and Hewlett-Packard developed into a highly regarded
model for video-based distance learning, first used for the in-plant education
of engineers in industry. He was awarded the IEEE Medal of Education (1981)
for this work and for his semiconductor texts. Upon leaving the dean's office
in 1996, Gibbons founded SERA Learning Technologies, a company devoted to
using tutored video instruction for the education of at risk and underserved
youth.
As dean, he created several important interschool programs with the School
of Humanities and Sciences, the Graduate School of Business and the School
of Medicine. In 1986, he brought the computer science department into the
School of Engineering and initiated the thorough integration of that discipline
into the departments and research centers of the School, an activity that
has been continued and amplified by his successors. He also engaged venture
capitalists in helping to build the school's endowment, through the Engineering
Venture Fund, and to create new educational opportunities for students through
the Technology Ventures Program.
Starting in 1985, he worked with the President and a group of senior colleagues
in the university administration to create a plan for the Science and Engineering
Quad, and he contributed to its implementation by raising naming gifts and
supporting funds for several buildings in the SEQ. Within the school, he
worked with the department chairs to put in place new standards for tenure
that included high quality in both teaching and research, leading to a new
plateau in the national ranking of the school. Upon his retirement from
the office of dean, the University named a grove of trees outside the Thornton
Center for him. A marker in that grove carries the inscription: "His enormous
contributions as teacher, scholar, entrepreneur and dean have changed forever
the physical and intellectual landscape of Stanford and the School of Engineering.
His visionary leadership has set us on a course of unparalleled excellence
and ensured the preeminence of our endeavors for generations to come".
Professor Gibbons is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the
National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, and a Lifetime Fellow of the IEEE. He was named an Outstanding
Alumnus of Northwestern University in 1987 and was awarded the IEEE Millennium
Medal in 2001. |
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