Kirkici to receive Eric O. Forster Distinguished Service Award

Kirkici

Hulya Kirkici, professor in Auburn University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has earned the Eric O. Forster Distinguished Service Award, the highest service honor given by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society.

First presented in 1979, the biennial award was renamed in 1992 in honor of the late Eric O. Forster for his distinguished service on behalf of DEIS, and is given to members who have exhibited continued leadership, support and contributions to the advancement in the field of electrical insulation.

“I have known Hulya since the early 1990s and have followed her achievements,” IEEE DEIS President Frank Hegeler said. “She truly deserves this award for her dedication to the advancement of the dielectrics and electrical insulation field.”

The DEIS administrative committee elected Kirkici unanimously for her leadership and service to the society for the past two decades. She has held a number of DEIS leadership roles including administrative committee member-at-large from 1998-2004, secretary from 2000-2004, vice president of technical activities from 2005-2006, vice president from 2007-2008, president from 2009-2010 and past president from 2011-2012.

In addition, Kirkici has led the IEEE International Power Modulator and High Voltage Conference from 2004-2014 and has served as an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation from 1997-2007 and 2012 to present.

In 2014, she received the IEEE William G. Dunbar Award for continuing contribution to high-voltage and high frequency insulation research and engineering education. She was also named Auburn University’s presidential administrative fellow for the 2015 spring and fall semesters.

Kirkici's research interests include the fields of space power systems, dielectrics and electrical insulation in high altitude space environment and plasma physics. She will receive the distinguished service award at the 2015 Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena on October 20 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.