College Mourns Passing of Professor Emeritus Vasant Prabhu
The College of Engineering sadly announces that Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering Vasant Prabhu passed away on December 4.
Prabhu was born on May 13, 1937. He earned a B.S. degree from Karnatak University In 1958 and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Science in 1962, a Master of Science, and a Doctor of Science degree from M.I.T. in 1963 and 1966 respectively.
He worked for Bell Labs for 25 years. There, he was part of the team that invented cellular phone networks. In 1991, he named one of his Bell Labs inventions “the Personal Communication System,” a prototype cellular wrist phone. In 1986, he was elevated to the grade of IEEE fellow for his contributions to interference, noise, and spectral analysis of analog and digital communication systems. He was the recipient of the Alfred Hay Gold Medal from the Indian Institute of Science (1961) and the Centennial Medal of IEEE (1984).
Prabhu joined UTA in 1991 as a professor in the Electrical Engineering Department after retiring from Bell Labs. He taught telecommunication courses and research focused on digital wireless communication systems. He was the recipient of the Robert Q. Lee Excellence in Teaching Award from UTA in 1998. During his tenure at UTA, Prabhu was the supervising professor for 17 doctoral students and more than 25 Master’s students. He was named professor emeritus in 2008.
In his honor, his graduate students endowed the Barbara & Vasant Prabhu Scholarship in 2022, named after Vasant and his late wife of more than 55 years, Barbara, to award scholarships to students specializing in telecommunications.
According to his former student Tony Wong, Prabhu is remembered by countless students for his thoroughness and passion for mathematical rigor, and his openness and willingness to help anyone that would approach him. He left an indelible mark on many lives that he had touched positively.