Prof Bernard Weiss
| Post: | Emeritus Professor (Engineering and Design) |
| Location: | RICHMOND |
| Email: | B.L.Weiss@sussex.ac.uk |
Biography
Bernard graduated from the University of Newcastle with a BSc in Electrical Engineering in 1971 and a PhD in microwave devices in 1975 supervised by Professor Hans Hartnagel. After a 2-year personal SRC Postdoctoral Fellowship for the study of Microwave FET technology, he became a Wolfson Fellow studying NiCr thin films, both held at the University of Newcastle. In 1977 he moved to UCL to study ZnO acoustic transducers and NDT with Professor Sir Eric Ash. In 1979 he moved to the University of Surrey as a Lecturer where he established research in integrated optics in LiNbO3 and III-V quantum well structures. He was promoted to Professor of Microelectronics in 1996, Head of the School of Electronics and Physical Sciences in 2001 and Pro-Vice-Chancellor in 2005. He was awarded a DSc from Surrey University in 1999 and a DEng from the University of Newcastle in 2005.
In 2009 he moved to the ÅÝܽ¶ÌÊÓƵ as Head of School of Engineering and Design and became Acting Head of the School of Informatics. After restructuring the two Schools, he formed the School of Engineering and Informatics from the merger of the two restructured Schools in August 2011.
He retired in September 2012 and is now an Emeritus Professor of the ÅÝܽ¶ÌÊÓƵ.
He was part-time Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor of St Mary's University, Twickenham, London (2013-4) following his nine years as a member of the Board of Governors of St. Mary's University (2004-13) becoming Vice-Chair of the Board of Governors in 2010.
He has held external appointments including Honorary Professor at the University of Hong Kong (1996-2000) and visiting appointments at the University of California, Berkeley (1981), University of Cincinnati, Ohio (1991), Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, (1994), the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (2000) and the University of Leeds (2012-5) and Advisory Professor at Fudan University, China (2010-18). He has been an external examiner at many universities in the UK, Australia, China, Finland, Hong Kong, Malta and Malaysia. He was a Non-Executive Director of SSTL (2003-5).
He was chair of the International Advisory Board of the School of Information Science and Technology at Fudan University, Shanghai, China (2010-18); Chair of the Strategic Advisory Board for the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Loughborough (2016-21); Member of the Industrial Advisory Board, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Newcastle upon Tyne (2016-21).
Research Interests:
Optoelectronic and microwave devices and applications.
Research Collaborations:
His research was funded by EPSRC, MoD, DRA, US Army, DARPA, Marconi Research Labs, STL, Agilent, Bookham Technology, NATO, EU, Pilkington PE, BT Research Labs, British Council and Philips Components. He has collaborated with researchers at the Universities of Kent, Sheffield, Imperial College, Leeds, ÅÝܽ¶ÌÊÓƵ, Glasgow, Michigan Ann Arbor, Cincinnati, Darmstadt, Corbino Institute (Italy) and Hong Kong.
Prizes, Awards and Honours
He has received the following awards:
- Elected Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (2020)
- Elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2005)
- DEng (Newcastle upon Tyne) (2005)
- Leadership Foundation Fellowship (2005)
- Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) Achievement Medal (2004)
- DSc (Surrey) (1999)
- William Mong Research Fellowship, University of Hong Kong (1997)
- Honorary Professor, University of Hong Kong (1996-2000)
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Visiting Professor, Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, Germany (1994-5)
- 150th Anniversary Medal, Warsaw University of Technology (1993)
- Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) J Langham Thompson prize with E Herbert Li (1992)
- Wolfson Foundation Research Fellowship (1977)
- Personal Science Research Council (SRC) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (1975-76)
- J Arthur Rank Research Studentship (1972-4)
- Electrosil Research Studentship (1971-2)
Professional Activities
He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a Member of Membership Committee (Panel 7, Electrical and Electronic Engineering). He has been a Member of the Pro-Active Membership Committee; the International Committee; the Membership Committee (panel 3); the Education and Training Committee and the Diversity Committee and Chair of the Steering Committee for Research Exchanges with India and China.
He is an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) (now the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). He is a Member of the Fellow Policy Committee and the Academic Accreditation Committee. He was a Member/Chair of the Scholarships and Awards Committee; a Member of the Awards & Prizes Committee; a judge of the Science, Engineering & Technology (SET) Student of the Year award for electronic engineering since its inception to 2014 and was a Member/Chair of the judging panel for the Consumer Electronics category of the IET Innovation Awards. He has been a member of numerous boards and committees, including the Qualifications and Publications Boards and Council. He was the Editorial Advisor of the EMIS book series on the properties and processing of electronic materials.
He is a member of the Engineering Council Quality Assurance Committee.
He was a member of the EPSRC Peer Review College (2003-2012) and a member of various prioritisation and EPSRC/RAEng research fellowship selection panels.