Raj Mittra
Electromagnetic Communication Lab ECE Department, University of Central Florida Orlando, FL, USA
A year ago, sometime around Black Friday, I received an email from Prof. Erdem Topsakal, who was contacting me on behalf of the IEEE/APS Society to ask whether I was willing to accept an invitation to be one of the Legends of the AP Society. I wasn't sure what it took to qualify to be a Legend of AP-S, and how I happened to make the grade, but I wasn't going to ask too many questions, or to look a gift horse in the mouth. So, I jumped at his offer and responded, as fast as I could, by saying, "Yes, I would, count me in! Please tell me what I have to do." Erdem was equally quick with his reply and he came back with, "Nothing much, but just agree to be interviewed by an IEEE/AP-S team, who will videotape the interview and release the video through Social Media."
To that I did agree, and the rest is History, as they say. The link for the video, which has just been released, is shown below:
OVERVIEW OF AP-S LEGEND VIDEO
Raj Mittra was born in India during the Depression era, in the 1930s. His father passed away when he was only four years old, unexpectedly plunging his family into very trying times. Raj would sometimes joke by saying that he and Abe Lincoln had at least one thing in common - they both used candle light to read - because there was no electricity in his log cabin, and Raj because his family was so poor that they couldn't afford a home with electricity, so he had to make do with candle light to study at night. In this interview, conducted by Professor Erdem Topsakal on behalf of the AP Society, Raj talks about his early education and career. He tells us how he got into the area of Electromagnetics almost serendipitously, an area which has recognized him with numerous awards and has honored him with the accolade of a Legend in the AP Society. In this interview, which was a Q&A session conducted by Prof. Topsakal, he reminisces about how he recruited his Ph.D. students, took them under his wings and mentored them, advising more than 120 Ph.D. dissertations (believed to be a career record in his field). Additionally, he developed a consulting business in Computational Electromagnetics involving aerospace companies as well as government research laboratories from all over the world. He acquired his first Rolls-Royce, a 1971 Silver Shadow, by successfully marketing his CEM codes, he muses.
Raj also tells us, in a lighter mood, what he does with his spare time and shares with us his inner secrets of relaxation and recreation. He mentions his passion for tennis, jazz music, and collecting museum-quality European art as well as exotic cars. He also loves to travel, and has racked up more than 4 million miles on United Airlines alone. He also has keen philanthropic interests and has been an ardent supporter of engineering education at the University of Illinois, Penn State University, and the University of Central Florida. He is proud to have been designated as an Alexander Graham Bell-level supporter of the IEEE Foundation for his gifts to the IEEE, and recently elevated to the Marie Curie level.
The reader is encouraged to check out the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJeiTaBEuCw
and take a peek at the video interview of Raj, a newly minted Legend of the AP Society. There you can also find the videosf other AP Legends: Balanis, Ishimaru, Rahmat-Samii, Sarabandi, and Uslenghi.