Professor Branner Receives Lifetime Achievement Award
Professor G. R. Branner has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society, Santa Clara Valley-San Francisco Joint Section Chapter.
The chapter presented the honor during the 2025 International Microwave Symposium, held in San Francisco. Many of Professor Branner’s former students — now global experts in radio frequency and microwave devices — were in attendance.
“There’s no better time to celebrate and honor Professor Branner,” said Darin Phelps, the chapter chair and manager of sales and solution engineering at Keysight Technologies. “With the influx of knowledge, talent and people, we have a lot of his best students here from the past.”
At the University of California, Davis in the 1970s, Professor Branner innovated three classes, the EEC 132 series, that cover the theory and hands-on design of radio frequency and microwave devices, preparing students for successful careers in industry. He still teaches these classes today.
“Professor Branner touched so many people’s lives in so much of a positive way,” said Steven Rosenau, an engineering program manager at Apple and a former student of Professor Branner. “He provided advice, he provided guidance, he provided education. Not all professors teach; he definitely taught.”
Another former student, Keysight’s Cameron Blatter, shared a similar sentiment: “He was pushing us hard, and he believed in our potential. Professor Branner cared not only that we grasp the material but that we were truly prepared for the real world. We left his class with confidence and achievement.”
Suresh Ojha, a manager at Anritsu, discussed the significant impact Professor Branner had on his life. He told the story of how Professor Branner helped Ojha launch the first RF and microwave device curriculum in Nepal — where Ojha was born — by sharing the class notes for the EEC 132 series.
“[He] would always tell us, ‘It’s really important how you do things,’” Ojha said, nearing the end of his speech on Professor Branner’s impact on him, the field of RF and microwave devices and engineering education. “I’ll conclude by saying, ‘Nicely done.’”
