Vincent Fusco MRIA
Image caption: Vincent Fusco MRIA, 2019 RIA Gold Medallist in the Engineering Sciences.
Citation on the awarding of the 2019 RIA Gold Medal in the Engineering Sciences to Vincent Fusco MRIA
Written on 14 September 2020
Vincent Fusco is an international expert in high frequency electronic engineering. He is recognised worldwide for his seminal contributions to research on advanced steerable antenna systems that have enabled applications such as mobile cellular communications, satellite communications and vehicular radar.
He also holds numerous fundamental patents on self-tracking antennas and high performance micromachined frequency selective surfaces.
His major contributions to his field include the creation and a world-first demonstration of a flat ultra-thin lens that has made a major impact on the field of flat microwave optics. This technique was further developed for use in the next generation high performance miniaturised equipment to allow broadband internet links from a laptop to a satellite.
His prodigious publications and awards are impressive. He has published 2 bestselling textbooks, 650 peer reviewed research papers and numerous book chapters. He also holds 12 generic patents in the area of phased array technology.
In 2012, he was awarded the Institution of Engineering Technology Mountbatten medal, for his contributions to the Microwave research and, in 2018 and again in 2019, was the grand prize winner and named as Global Mobile World Scholar by the GSMA wireless industry association.
His research has been recognised by his election as a member of the Royal Irish Academy and as a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Irish Academy of Engineering and the Institution of Engineering Technology.
He played a major role in the establishment of the Institute of Electronic, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) here at Queen’s University Belfast that currently comprises 235 people. It was recently ranked 28th in the world, 2nd in the UK and 4th in Europe by the 2019 Shanghai Ranking of Academic Subjects Through this, he has been strongly involved in numerous high technology start- up activities including the formation of Microsense, Arallis and IconicRF. He also played a major role in attracting TDK, the Japanese company, to Ireland. A significant component of his research is funded by companies such as Airbus, Analog Devices and Keysight Technologies, reflecting the international engineering significance of his work.
Prof. Fusco is a world leader in the area of microwaves with a lifetime of tremendous achievements. The diverse application of his work demonstrates both the excellent science underpinning his work but also the exceptional ability to engineer it into usable and impactful applications.