Professor James West of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department was honored as one of the "50 Most Important Blacks in Technology" this Friday at the 19th annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards.
The award is designed to focus attention on the impact that African Americans have made in the past, present and future of technology.
West is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and is a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, inducted in 1999.
He and partner George Sessler are well-known for their 1962 discovery of electret behavior in Teflon, which quickly led to the invention of the polymer electret microphone. In the electret microphone, thin sheets of polymer electret film are metal-coated on one side to form the membrane of the movable plate capacitor that quickly converts sound to electrical signals.
This is an essential piece of equipment in modern telephones, camcorders and tape recorders, and also the key component in most modern microphones.
It is estimated that more than one billion of these electret microphones are produced each year. Its high performance, accuracy, and reliability, in addition to its low cost, small size, and light weight make it ideal to use in the products.
West later helped to invent the speakerphone, the first device to permit hands-free telephone communication. He holds nearly 50 U.S. patents, and over 200 patents worldwide.
West is also an active fighter for diversity in the field of engineering. He is a member of the Diversity Leadership Council, which works to increase diversity throughout the Hopkins community, and is the chair of the Whiting School of Engineering Diversity Council, which focuses on bringing more minorities into the program.
Jeffrey Jarosz, a member of the Council, is the chapter advisor of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and a colleague of West.
"He is active in community affairs, and he has many mentees," Jarosz, said, "Many of the African American graduate students in engineering are mentored by him."
According to Jarosz, West's efforts to promote diversity in engineering can be seen in the many programs with which he is involved. He helped institute College Outreach Day, which is designed to get minority students interested in higher education, and works for Future Investors Researchers Teachers and Scientists (FIRST), a program sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
He is also working to get a school-sponsored scholarship for minority students coming to Hopkins. UMBC has a similar scholarship called the Meyerhoff Scholarship which has served as a national example of scholarships which encourage diversity.
West's career began with 40 years in private industry, of which he spent a significant portion of his time at Bell Labs. It was during these years that he invented the polymer electret microphone.
When he retired from Bell Labs in 2001, West elected to continue doing research, at which point he joined the faculty of the Whiting School of Engineering last fall.
"I discovered that Johns Hopkins was a lot like Bell Labs, where the doors are always open and we were free to collaborate with researchers in other disciplines," West told the Johns Hopkins Gazette.
"I like the fact that I won't be locked into one small niche here. I wanted to be in an environment that allowed 360 degrees of vision."
Ilene Busch-Vishniac, a close colleague of West's who has worked with him since 1980, called him "the most talented person I know. He possesses an insatiable curiosity and won't let go of a new behavior until he understands it thoroughly."
Busch-Vishniac also praised West for his work as a mentor at Hopkins. "I have found him to be a wonderful collaborator, a terrific mentor and a good friend. He is a student magnet and an endless source of great projects and ideas."
In addition to his membership in the Inventors Hall of Fame, West has also received many other awards and recognitions. He is the 1970 recipient of the Callinan Award, a Golden Torch Award, and a recipient of the George R. Stibitz trophy.
