NC State professor Jayant Baliga received the United States' highest award for technological achievement from Barack Obama in 2011.
When U.S. President Barack Obama awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2011, it went to Dr. B. Jayant Baliga of North Carolina State University (NC State). The medal is the United States’ highest honor for technological achievement.
Baliga, a Distinguished University Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and founding director of the Power Semiconductor Research Center, was honored for inventing, developing, and commercializing the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) – which has saved trillions of dollars and thousands of lives over the past 20 years. The energy-saving semiconductor switch controls the flow of power from an electrical energy source to any application that needs energy.
The IGBT improves energy efficiency by more than 40 percent in an array of products, from cars and refrigerators to light bulbs, and it is a critical component enabling modern compact cardiac defibrillators. The impact of the improved efficiency of IGBT-enabled applications has been a cumulative cost savings of $15.8 trillion for worldwide consumers over the last 20 years. At the same time, the improved efficiency produced by IGBT-enabled applications has produced a cumulative reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 78 trillion pounds worldwide over the last 20 years. In addition, IGBT-based compact portable defibrillators are projected to have saved nearly 100,000 lives in the United States, and many more globally.
At NC State, students get to work with some of the most innovative engineers in the United States – and are given the opportunity to make discoveries that could change the world.
“It is a great honor to be recognized by the nation for my work over the last 35 years,” Baliga says. “It’s wonderful to see power semiconductor technology recognized for its enormous contribution to improving the quality of life for society, while mitigating our impact on the environment. And while much has been accomplished, I am continuing my work in the area of renewable energy systems.”
Baliga is currently working with the FREEDM Systems Center, a National Science Foundation-sponsored Engineering Research Center led by NC State that seeks to improve the nation’s distribution and management of power. Baliga, who has been a faculty member at NC State since 1988, is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the IEEE.
