Gunther Karger always positioned himself as a man of both vision and leadership with the understanding that our global society benefits from sharing the incredible achievements of communications technology.
Alongside his wife, Shirley, the two hosted countless ComSoc chapters and community gatherings celebrating and educating others on the ways communications technology has advanced our global society. Whether at an event with communications engineers, at a dinner with non-technical, local community leaders, or simply during a personal interaction, Gunther and Shirley dedicated their lives to ensuring the technical advancements made by IEEE and ComSoc members were known and celebrated by the global community.
Description
This award recognizes the volunteer contributions of a ComSoc member who embodies the spirit of the award’s namesakes, serving as a role model in our community, keeping the local chapter, and hence the Society, vibrant and resilient. This leader must not only represent IEEE Communications Society through leadership actions within their Section/Chapter, but also within the local, non-technical community making considerable efforts to educate and share the contributions of IEEE and the Communications Society to the general public.
The person does not have to be an elected or appointed chapter leader, but merely an active member of a section/chapter and exemplify these leadership qualities. All member categories are eligible for this award.
Prize
Plaque and an honorarium of US$2,000; only one award will be granted per year.
Eligibility
Contributions may include activity in more than one Chapter, and may include representing a Chapter at the local, IEEE regional/section and/or ComSoc Society level. This award is not restricted to a specific time period and may span a candidate’s entire IEEE Communications Society membership.
To be eligible, a candidate shall:
- be an active IEEE ComSoc Member for at least 1 year in any membership category at the time of nomination.
To be eligible, a candidate’s chapter and local community contributions must take place while being a member of the Society.
This award is to recognize contributions of the member at the local community level, both inside and outside of Chapter activities, therefore contributions at the Society level are not germane to the application and will carry no weight in assessing an individual’s nomination.
Basis for Judging
A candidate for this award must excel / stand out in expertise and experience in the following areas:
- Promoting the public benefits of the contributions made by IEEE Communications Society to the local non-technical community
- Promoting the public benefits of the contributions made by IEEE Communications Society to the pre-university and university students
- Positive public image
- Leadership attributes
- Advancing the communications technology engineering profession
Judging
Review and judging of the awards shall be conducted by ComSoc’s Awards Standing Committee. When this proposal is reviewed and approved by the ComSoc BoG and Awards Standing Committee, the intent would align with ComSoc’s current awards-related P&Ps, and IEEE policies as it relates to selection committee, judging, and eligibility.
Presentation
Annually.
In recognition of being chosen, the award will be presented at the IEEE Global Communications Conference to the individual receiving the award.
The award may not be presented if a suitable candidate is not available.
Notification
A representative of the Awards Committee will notify the submitter and recipient shortly after the Comsoc Awards Committee’s Q3/Q4 meeting.
Entry Documentation and Exclusions
Candidates may self-nominate or be nominated by another IEEE ComSoc member in good standing by using the application found on the application page of the Award’s landing page on the ComSoc website.
The committee reserves the right to not have an award recipient if no qualified candidate is submitted.