A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION The Westfield Leader and THE TIMES of Scotch Plains – Fanwood Thursday, May 16, 2002 Page 5 Westfielder Arun Netravali of Lucent Receives Nation’s Top Technology Award WASHINGTON D. C. – President vation and have advanced the nation’s of Television Arts and Sciences for cluding the Alexander Graham Bell George W. Bush announced last global competitiveness. his work on HDTV. Medal (1991); the Computers and Thursday the selection of Arun The medal recognizes Mr. Netravali served as President Communications Prize (1997, NEC, Netravali of Westfield, former Presi- groundbreaking contributions that of Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies’ Japan); the Frederik Philips Award dent of Lucent Technologies’ Bell help commercialize technologies, research and development division, from the IEEE (2000); the National Labs and currently chief scientist at create jobs, improve productivity and from 1999 to 2001. Under his leader- Association of Software and Ser- Lucent, as one of stimulate the ship, Lucent dramatically increased vices Companies (NASSCOM) this year’s five re- nation’s growth the speed with which it was able to Medal in India (2000), and the Kilby cipients of the and development. move innovations from lab to mar- Medal from the IEEE (2001). U.S. National Established by ket. In 2001, he also received the Padma Medal of Tech- Congress in 1980 As Lucent’s chief scientist, he now Bhushan Award from the Indian gov- nology. and administered works with the academic and invest- ernment, the nation’s third-highest A resident of by the Department ment communities to identify im- civilian honor. Westfield for of Commerce, it portant new networking technolo- He has authored more than 170 more than two is the nation’s gies and advises Lucent’s senior technical papers and co-authored decades, Mr. highest honor for management on technical and cus- three books, including “Digital Pic- Netravali was achievement in tomer issues. ture Representation and Compres- cited for his “pio- technology. The Mr. Netravali is a member of Tau sion,” “Visual Communications Sys- neering contribu- President will Beta Phi and Sigma Xi; a Fellow of tems” and “Digital Video: An Intro- DIGGING IN…Construction began on Saturday, May 11, on the site designated tions that trans- present the med- the Institute of Electrical and Elec- duction to MPEG-2.” for the September 11th Memorial Park on the corner of East Broad Street and formed TV from als at a ceremony tronic Engineers (IEEE) and the He holds more than 70 patents in North Avenue in Westfield. Under the direction of Craig Stock, landscape analog to digital, later this year at American Association for the Ad- the areas of computer networks, hu- designer for the project, volunteers from the Jaycees and the Friends of Dean enabling numer- the White House. Eberling began initial excavation of the area that will house a glass and granite vancement of Science (AAAS), and man interfaces to machines, picture memorial honoring the victims of the September 11th tragedy. ous integrated cir- “This honor a member of the U.S. National Acad- processing and digital video and tele- cuits, systems and Arun Netravali highlights what emy of Engineering. vision. services in broad- we at Lucent have For his scientific achievements, he Mr. Netravali was an adjunct pro- cast TV, CATV, known for many has received numerous awards, in- fessor at the Massachusetts Institute Clerk’s Office Raises DBS, HDTV and multimedia over years, that Arun Netravali is a bril- of Technology and has taught gradu- the Internet, and for technical exper- liant scientist,” commented Lucent ate courses at City College in New tise and leadership, which have kept Chief Executive Officer Patricia ETown Water York, Columbia University and Revenue, Tax Burden Offset Bell Labs at the forefront in commu- Russo. Rutgers University. nications technology.” “His contributions are playing a Achieves ISO 9001 He has served on the editorial board AREA – The Union County Clerk’s ing real estate market, particularly “It’s really a great honor for a significant role in today’s digital of the IEEE and is currently an editor Office saw a $1 million increase in the high activity in mortgage refi- number of reasons,” Mr. Netravali video revolution. He also piloted Bell WESTFIELD – Elizabethtown of several journals. Mr. Netravali the County’s portion of revenues over nancing. A state-mandated fee in- told The Westfield Leader and The Labs — a recipient of the National Water Company’s Plant Operations additionally is a board member with the first four months of 2002, County crease, which became effective in Times of Scotch Plains-Fanwood Medal of Technology in 1985 – Group has received ISO 9001 certifi- a number of organizations. Clerk Joanne Rajoppi said. February, also boosted revenues. Monday, expressing his appreciation through a critical period in its long cation, making it the first water com- He received his undergraduate From January through April, the “Union County is an attractive and that the United States would choose and distinguished history. pany in the United States to achieve degree from the Indian Institute of office received $2.3 million in fees, affordable place in which to live, an Indian-born scientist to receive its “As a result, the world continues to the international distinction. Achiev- Technology in Mumbai, India, and an 83 percent revenue increase and a work and raise a family,” Rajoppi highest honor in technology achieve- depend on Bell Labs today as a lead- ing the ISO 9001 standard for quality master’s and doctorate degrees from 30 percent increase in volume for said. “Our strategic location and high ment. ing source of new communications marks the completion of the Rice University in Houston, Tex., all land documents over the first four quality of life continue to feed the He noted it was the first time some- technologies and a veritable cornu- company’s first step toward distin- in electrical engineering. months of 2001. high demand for real estate. We ex- one in his field, picture processing, copia of scientific breakthroughs,” guishing itself as a Best in Class Mr. Netravali holds an honorary The dramatic increase in revenue pect the demand to continue for the was selected to receive the National she added. water utility. doctorate from the Ecole came primarily from a significant balance of 2002.” Medal of Technology, adding that The compression technology Mr. “This phenomenal achievement Polytechnique Federale in Lausanne, increase in the volume of recorda- In addition to the clerk office at the the occasion also represented “a ter- Netravali developed is essential to builds on the great work done by Switzerland. tion of land records as well as pass- Courthouse in Elizabeth, the Westfield rific honor for Bell Labs.” digital video systems used in cable Elizabethtown Water Company for In addition to the nine U.S. Medals ports and photo identification cards, Annex is open on Tuesday and Thurs- Mr. Netravali, who aspired to be and network television, high-defini- decades,” said Andrew Chapman, of Science laureates affiliated with Rajoppi said. This is due to the boom- day evenings until 7:30 p.m. an engineer since childhood and ful- tion television (HDTV), video tele- president of Elizabethtown, “With Bell Labs, Mr. Netravali joins seven filled a dream by working for Bell phones and videoconferencing sys- superior efforts of the current team previous Bell Labs scientists and Labs, paid tribute to his colleagues tems. and help from our parent, Thames engineers as U.S. Medal of Technol- for their own contributions and their In addition, his work is the basis Water, we turned the great work into ogy laureates. • Criminal Defense - Federal & State friendship. for systems that use streaming video an international achievement.” Referring to the seven previous • Complex Civil Litigation “One of the wonderful things about over the Internet, websites that store ISO is the International Organiza- Bell Labs engineers and scientists Bell Labs is I had so many different compressed video, and multimedia tion for Standardization, a federa- who received the award, Mr. Netravali • DWI & Municipal Court role models,” he remarked. “It’s a computers. tion of 132 national standards bodies said his selection for the medal was very inspiring place where if you Cable television set-top boxes, di- based in Geneva, Switzerland, that “a great tradition to be following.” wanted to know about any subject, rect broadcast satellite receivers and has created a series of quality man- In 1985, Bell Labs as an organiza- there’s a world class expert right next HDTV sets that use the MPEG and agement systems standards. tion was honored with the medal for ROBERT G. STAHL, Esq. door,” willing to share his or her HDTV standards rely on Mr. Dennis L. Ciemniecki, its numerous contributions to mod- knowledge. Netravali’s compression algorithms, Elizabethtown’s Vice President, says ern communications systems. It was Former Federal Prosecutor He and his wife, Chitra, a pediatri- which also made communication that for Elizabethtown’s residential the first institution recognized with cian for the City of Newark, have two services such as video conferencing customers, the ISO 9001 achieve- this honor. children. Daughter Ilka is a junior at and Internet streaming video an eco- ment is another independent mea- Lucent Technologies, headquar- 220 St. Paul Street, Westfield, NJ 07090 Princeton University, where she is nomic reality. sure of the quality management pro- tered in Murray Hill, designs and Tel: (908) 301-9001 Fax: (908) 301-9008 pursuing a double major in pre-med Mr. Netravali led the development cess behind the treatment of the wa- delivers networks for the world’s larg- and electrical engineering. Mr. of HDTV technology at Bell Labs in ter they receive.