My First Student: My Mother

Dr. Nicolaos Alexopoulos is the 2019 College of Engineering Alumni Medal Award Winner. 

Abstract:

This is a story of my journey since my birth at an aunt’s house in 1942, in the middle of the Nazi occupation in Athens, Greece, through the civil war afterwards and through the years, starting to work after school at the age of 8 until I came to the U.S. in 1959.  I will describe my early years in Michigan at Ypsilanti and then Ann Arbor, working and putting myself through school and managing to get a PhD degree when I was 26 years old. I will conclude with a few comments about my experiences in the academic world as a teacher and administrator.

Bio: 

Nicolaos (Nick) G. Alexopoulos was born in Athens, Greece, in 1942.  He graduated from the 8th Gymnasium in 1959. He earned his BSEE (1964), MSEE (1967), and PhD (1968) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Dr. Alexopoulos served as The Dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at University of California at Irvine (UCI) from 1997 to 2008.  He was a member of the faculty at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1969 to 1996, where he served as Chair of the Electrical Engineering Department (1987-1992) and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs (1986-1987) before taking his post as Dean at UCI.

He joined Broadcom Corporation (2008-2015) as Vice President for Antennas, RF Technologies and University Relations.  He currently serves as Vice President for Academic Programs and University Relations with Broadcom Foundation.

Dr. Alexopoulos was elected an IEEE Fellow “For contributions to the understanding of substrate-superstrate effects on printed circuit antennas and integrated microwave circuits.”  He was elected to the United States National Academy of Engineering “For contributions to microwave circuits, antennas, and structures for low observable technologies, and for contributions in engineering education.”

Dr. Alexopoulos is Highly Cited in Engineering and Computer Science literature and has received three IEEE Best Journal Paper Awards.  He and his students have published more than 300 journal and refereed conference publications and several book chapters. He also holds more than 30 US patents.  In 2005 he received an Honorary Doctorates from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece.

He has served over the years as a consultant to various high-tech companies and to the US Government.  In addition, he founded the company Kimalink Inc., which was bought by Broadcom in 2000.