Another prestigious award in an astounding career of many rightfully goes to Professor Rabab Ward. SASTA is immensely proud to congratulate Prof. Ward on winning the 2023 IEEE Fourier Award for Signal Processing.
A true Arab STEM icon, Prof. Ward has over 40 years of postdoctoral experience in education, research, and leadership. With a keen eye for the future, she remains passionate about giving back to the field she loves as a Professor Emerita of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada.
Prof. Ward’s journey in Engineering began with overcoming gender-based obstacles. Despite finishing high school with the highest marks in her year in Lebanon, she was refused admission to the Engineering program at the American University of Beirut because she was a woman. Undeterred, she switched to Engineering at Cairo University, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 1966. She then pursued graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where she obtained a Master’s degree in 1969 and completed her Ph.D. in 1972.
After moving to Vancouver with her husband, who had obtained a faculty position at UBC, Prof. Ward faced initial challenges in finding academic employment. Eventually, she secured a part-time lecturer position at UBC in 1973 and became a full-time faculty member in 1981, becoming the first woman to become an Engineering professor in British Columbia. She held various positions at UBC, including Director of the Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems from 1996 to 2007.
Prof. Ward’s contributions to the field have earned her unparalleled research stature, with a 72 h-index, over 20,720 citations, 580 research papers, nine patents, and numerous distinctions and awards.
Her aforementioned most recent award recognizes Prof. Ward “for outstanding contributions to advancing signal processing techniques and their practical applications”. It cannot be overstated that the technology itself might not be what it is today without Prof Ward’s life work. To quote Prof. Ward from the 2021 IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, “When I got my Ph.D., there was nothing called Signal Processing.”
So what is this technology that Prof. Ward personally helped put on the map? Signal processing focuses on analyzing, modifying, and synthesizing signals. Signals can be anything from sound, images, or even waves. For example, when you talk to a friend on the phone, your voice is picked up by the microphone and converted into an electrical signal. This signal is then processed to remove any background noise or interference before being transmitted to your friend’s phone.
Prof. Ward has applied this same technology to improve medical imaging techniques such as Mammography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and enhance cable TV performance.
Along her inspiring journey, she has also mentored hundreds of students and supervised and graduated several dozen doctoral students. Prof. Ward is also known for her advocacy and efforts in promoting women in STEM fields, particularly Engineering. She co-founded the Society for Canadian Women in Science & Technology, which aims to support and encourage girls in mathematics and provide hands-on experiences in science and technology. She has been involved in outreach activities, including presentations to elementary and high schools, to raise awareness and appreciation for engineering.
She is an inventor, a luminary of her field, and a true never-say-die champion of science. Arabs of all scientific disciplines are very lucky to have Prof. Rabab Ward to look up to. All of us at SASTA are honored to celebrate her illustrious career and legacy.
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