Dr. Rabab K. Ward is a Professor Emeritus in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of British Columbia, Canada. She is the first woman appointed as professor in engineering in British Columbia. She has around 40 years of post-doctoral experience in education, research and leadership. Her research contributions are in broad areas of signal processing, including signal detection; image encoding, recognition, and restoration, and their applications in cable TV, HDTV, medical imaging, infant cry signals, and brain computer interfaces. Dr. Ward has published upwards of 240 refereed journal papers, 350 refereed conference articles, and holds eight patents related to monitoring, measurement, and noise reduction concerning cable television. Some of her work has been licensed to US and Canadian industry.
She has supervised 47 Ph.D. and 50 Master students. She has served and provided leadership to IEEE and other professional societies. She was President of the IEEE Signal Processing Society (2016-2017) and IEEE Director Division 1X (2020-2021).
Dr. Rabab K. Ward is a Professor Emeritus in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of British Columbia, Canada. She is the first woman appointed as professor in engineering in British Columbia. She has around 40 years of post-doctoral experience in education, research and leadership. Her research contributions are in broad areas of signal processing, including signal detection; image encoding, recognition, and restoration, and their applications in cable TV, HDTV, medical imaging, infant cry signals, and brain computer interfaces. Dr. Ward has published upwards of 240 refereed journal papers, 350 refereed conference articles, and holds eight patents related to monitoring, measurement, and noise reduction concerning cable television. Some of her work has been licensed to US and Canadian industry.
She has supervised 47 Ph.D. and 50 Master students. She has served and provided leadership to IEEE and other professional societies. She was President of the IEEE Signal Processing Society (2016-2017) and IEEE Director Division 1X (2020-2021).
Selected Honors
2024
Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
2023
The IEEE Fourier Award for Signal Processing
2020
International member of the (USA) National Academy of Engineering
2016
The (Centennial) UBC Faculty of Applied Science Dean's Medal of Distinction
2013
UBC Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring recognizing outstanding mentorship of numerous graduate students over many years
2008
The highest award of IEEE Signal Processing Society, the "Norbert Wiener Society Award". It honors outstanding technical contributions and outstanding leadership in the signal processing field
2007
The R.A. Machlachlan Award, the highest award of the Association of Professional Engineers in BC, emphasizing significant technical contributions and leadership to engineering "that characterize the profession at its best"
1999
The first woman in Electrical Engineering to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
