Date: 04/16/2007

Contact: Pat Lopes Harris at 408-924-1748.

SAN JOSE, Calif., -- Essam Marouf of the Department of Electrical Engineering within the College of Engineering at San José State University is the recipient of the 2006-2007 President's Scholar Award. Among SJSU's top four annual faculty awards, the honor recognizes a professor who has received widespread recognition for his or her scholarship.

"Professor Marouf deserves recognition for the important role his research plays in humankind's ongoing collaborative and scientific effort to understand the universe," said President Don W. Kassing. "In addition to his 30-year career and foundational research on planetary rings, atmospheres and surface mapping, he has served as a mentor for many students and has an outstanding reputation among his colleagues at San José State and NASA."

Marouf's research seeks to analyze the structure and physical properties of solar system objects of interest, such as Saturn's rings and Titan's atmosphere and surface, using satellite-based radio waves. He pioneered this highly effective methodology in his doctoral work at Stanford University, work that has been credited with fundamentally expanding our understanding of Saturn's remarkable ring system.

Marouf continues to contribute to this field of research as a member of the radio science team for Cassini, the first spacecraft to study, from orbit, Saturn, its ring system, and moons.

A faculty member since 1990, Marouf has also been recognized for successfully bringing his world-class research into the classroom. He consistently earns top marks in student evaluations, and his graduate students are directly involved with the Cassini project. In addition, he has developed and taught graduate courses that present the digital signal processing algorithms used for planetary exploration as a basic tool for engineers working in other fields including medical and radar imaging.

Marouf is the author or co-author of more than 100 papers published in refereed journals, review books and conference proceedings. In addition, he received the Excellence in Scholarship Award from SJSU's College of Engineering in 2001 and several honors from NASA, where his science, scholarship and character are highly respected.

"In space exploration, time, energy and exposure to conditions appropriate for research are limited," said Belle Wei, dean of the College of Engineering. "In this highly competitive environment, Professor Marouf remains generous with his time and resources to support colleagues and students. He is also very conscious of the importance of the mission to human knowledge. These characteristics make him an ideal colleague and scholar."

Marouf has a doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University, where he taught and conducted research for nearly two decades. He also holds bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Alexandria, Egypt.

San Jos?? State is Silicon Valley's largest institution of higher learning with 30,000 students and 4,000 employees. SJSU is part of the California State University system, the nation's largest senior system of higher education. SJSU's 154-acre downtown campus anchors the nation's 10th largest city.