Only a small number of worldwide engineers reach the level of recognition of UVM CEMS alumnus Dr. William R. Tonti who has received two distinguished honors from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Recently elected as Fellow of the IEEE, he also has received the 2008 Engineer of the Year Award from the IEEE Reliability Society.

"Being selected as both Engineer of the Year and elected IEEE Fellow are two outstanding achievements," said Domenico Grasso, Dean of the UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (CEMS). "Our college and the university as a whole are truly proud to have Bill as an alumnus."

Dr. Tonti's educational achievements include a BS degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University, an MS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Vermont, an MS degree in business administration from St. Michael's College, and a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Vermont.

William Tonti joined IBM in 1978 as a lead electrical engineer in test analysis and test equipment design engineering. Awards from IBM during his career have included division awards, top IBM patent awards, Corporate Technical Recognition awards, and he was recognized in the first class of the IBM Burlington Master Inventors. Dr. Tonti holds over 195 United States patents. He has authored many professional publications and given numerous invited talks.

The Engineer of the Year Award recognizes key contributions to the reliability profession occurring within the past few years. Criteria include contributions in the areas of reliability, technical and management reliability contributions, reliability publications, contributions to reliability education, professional service to IEEE and the IEEE Reliability Society, as well as other service positions within IEEE.

"The Reliability Society does not necessarily offer this award every year, although we do advertise for nominations each year. We have not given this award in three of the past eight years (2004, 2005, and 2007), even though we had reasonable candidates to receive it. We only award it when a candidate is presented to us that is unusually qualified, and this year, Dr. Sam Keene's nomination of you presented to us just such a candidate," said Jeffrey Voas, of the IEEE Reliability Society's nominations and awards committee, in a letter announcing the award. "The fact that you were chosen to receive this award is a testimony to your outstanding technical achievements and your demonstrated interest in IEEE and reliability-related professional activities." Dr. Voas added, "Elevation to IEEE Fellow is one of the IEEE's most prestigious honors, and is the highest grade of IEEE membership. Dr. Tonti was specifically recognized for his contributions in the area of semiconductor memory reliability." The award was given by the IEEE Electron Device Society.

The Engineer of the Year Award will be informally presented to Dr. Tonti at the January 2009 Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS) to be held in Fort Worth, Texas, and formally in April 2009 at the International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS) to be held in Montreal, Canada. IRPS is where Tonti presented his first technical paper, which stemmed from his PhD thesis under Dr. Steve Titcomb while attending UVM CEMS.