Title: Professor Georgakopoulos recognized with FIU’s highest faculty honor
Date: September 30, 2015
Four outstanding faculty in the College of Engineering & Computing joined colleagues from throughout FIU to receive well-deserved recognition at the 2015 Faculty Convocation. 
These individuals have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to students, the university and their fields. Their efforts inspire the all of us to reach ever higher in working toward the common goals of graduating students ready to be productive in the workforce, pursuing cutting-edge research and impacting the local and global communities.
Among these four faculty from the College of Engineering & Computing was Dr. Stavros V. Georgakopoulos. Professor Georgakopoulos has been recognized with a President’s Council Worlds Ahead Faculty Award, the highest honor that FIU extends to a faculty member. The prize highlights the contributions of individuals who excel in every aspect of their work, including teaching and mentorship, research and service.
In his eight years at FIU, Dr. Stavros has distinguished himself through collaborative research that should lead to the discovery of novel electromagnetic technologies that integrate across traditional boundaries between engineering, science and medicine to yield important societal benefits. His lab focuses on wireless powering of implantable and wearable medical devices as well as reconfigurable, “origami-style” folding antennas that will have a significant impact on next-generation airborne and spaceborne communication systems, his investigations into which are creating an entirely new research area called origami electromagnetics. His pioneering research and his inventions have attracted national and international attention. His external research funding totals $2.5 million, and his work has led to the filing of four utility patents. He has published 16 papers in top peer-reviewed journals and 81 papers in conference proceedings, which have been cited 475 times according to Google Scholar.
Dr. Georgakopoulos’ transformative research is coupled with a dedication to teaching and students. He has served as a faculty mentor on nine senior design projects and created a new undergraduate web-accessible laboratory that allows students to conduct hardware experiments from any remote location. His commitment to community outreach includes a grant-funded program to engage the interest of underrepresented students in local elementary schools in the STEM fields.
Dr. Georgakopoulos continues to help raise the profile of the university and the college through his senior membership in the technology association IEEE, his service as a member of the editorial board for the new International Journal on Wireless Power Transmission Technology by Cambridge University Press and his relationships with government agencies, private companies and top-tier institutions, such as Georgia Tech.