Russel Jacob Baker (R. Jacob
Baker), Ph.D., P.E. (IEEE Student Member 1983,
Member 1988, Senior Member 1997, and Fellow 2013) was born in Ogden, Utah,
on October 5, 1964. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical
engineering from the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas (UNLV) in 1986 and 1988. He received the Ph.D. degree in electrical
engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) in
1993. His Google Scholar profile is here and his ResearchGate profile is here.
From 1981-1987 he served in the United States Marine Corps (from
September of 1982 in the Reserves, Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines,
4th Marine Division). From 1985-1993 he worked for E. G. & G. Energy
Measurements and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory designing nuclear
diagnostic instrumentation for underground nuclear weapons tests at the Nevada Test
Site. During this time he designed, and oversaw the fabrication and the
electrical/mechanical manufacture of, over 30 electronic and electro-optic
instruments including high-speed cable and fiber-optic receiver/transmitters,
PLLs, frame- and bit-syncs for high-speed imaging, data converters,
streak-camera sweep circuits, Pockels cell
drivers, micro-channel plate gating circuits, and analog oscilloscope
electronics. From 1991-1993 he was an adjunct faculty member in the Departments
of Electrical Engineering at UNLV and UNR. From 1993-2000 he served on the
faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Idaho
(UI), first as an untenured assistant professor and then from 1998 as a tenured
associate professor. In 2000 he joined a new electrical and computer
engineering (ECE) program at Boise State University (BSU) where he was promoted
to professor in 2002. He then served as the ECE department chair from
2004-2007. At
BSU he helped establish graduate programs in ECE including, in
2006, the university’s second PhD degree. In 2012 he rejoined the faculty at
UNLV as a tenured full professor of ECE. During his tenure at the UI, BSU, and
UNLV he has been the major professor to more than 100
graduate students.
Dr. Baker has done consulting for over 200
companies. His research/development activities are in:
photonics, circuit design for wireless and wired communications,
analog-to-digital/digital-to-analog data conversion and transmission,
optoelectronics (imagers, displays, LIDARs, APDs, SiPMs, and associated
electronics), analog and digital integrated circuit design and fabrication,
design of diagnostic electrical and electro-optic instrumentation for
scientific research, integrated electrical/biological circuits and systems,
array (memory, imagers, and displays) fabrication and design, design of
digital processors for signal processing, CAD tool development and online
tutorials, low-power interconnect and packaging (electrical and optical)
techniques, design of wired/wireless communication and interface circuits,
circuit design for the use and storage of renewable energy, power electronics
and power supply design, and the delivery of online
engineering education. As a result of this work, he is the
named inventor on over 150 US patents and the author of over 100 publications.
He is a member of the
honor societies
Eta Kappa Nu and Tau Beta Pi, a licensed
Professional Engineer, a popular lecturer that has delivered over 50
invited talks around the world, an IEEE Fellow, and the author of
the books CMOS Circuit Design, Layout, and Simulation, CMOS
Mixed-Signal Circuit Design, and a coauthor of DRAM
Circuit Design: Fundamental and High-Speed Topics. He
received the 2000 Best Paper Award from the IEEE Power Electronics Society, the
2007 Frederick Emmons Terman Award, the 2011 IEEE Circuits and
Systems Education Award, and the 2021 Wiley-IEEE Press Textbook Award for the
4th Edition of his book CMOS Circuit Design, Layout, and Simulation.
His service activities include the IEEE Press Editorial Board (1999-2004), editor for the Wiley-IEEE Press Book Series on Microelectronic Systems (2010-2018), the Technical Program Chair of the 2015 IEEE 58th International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems (MWSCAS 2015), the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society (SSCS) Administrative Committee (2011-2016), Distinguished Lecturer for the SSCS (2012-2015), Technology Editor (2012-2014) and Editor-in-Chief (2015-2020) for the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine, IEEE Kirchhoff Award Committee (2020-2023), and advisor for the student branch of the IEEE at UNLV (2013-2024).
Personal information
- I have been married to Julie Baker since 1986 and we have two adult children. Our daughter is a faculty
member at CU Boulder. Our son
is a bassoonist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. My hobbies include hunting,
fishing, and traveling with my wife.