Andrew Viterbi

Dean’s Message Viterbi and Technion Partnership Andrew and Erna Viterbi Viterbi Day Press Room

 

 

Dean’s Message

From the Dean of the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering

It has been our department’s honor and privilege to develop a unique partnership with Distinguished Visiting Professor Andrew Viterbi and his late wife, Erna, over almost 50 years. Throughout this period, we have been able to benefit from Andrew’s wisdom and vision in science and technology. This partnership has been a vital ingredient in our success. The Viterbi Family’s extraordinary naming gift will have a tremendous impact on the Technion and the State of Israel for years to come.

Our department has been consistently ranked among the top 10 electrical and computer engineering departments worldwide. This has been reaffirmed by several International Review Committees; in 1982 chaired by Prof. Viterbi, and the most recent one chaired by MIT’s current president.

 The iconic “start-up nation” emerged directly out of our faculty. Our department provides the academic backbone of the world-renowned Israeli high-tech and defense industry. More than 1,600 companies were founded or managed by Technion alumni during the last 20 years; of these, some 35 percent are graduates of Electrical Engineering at the Technion.

 To accomplish such a major impact on Israel’s high-tech, defense, and economy, and respond to national demands, Electrical Engineering has traditionally been the largest Technion department. The current number of students exceeds 2,000.

To maintain our global leadership, we have to meet the challenges of the future and promote new and rapidly developing areas in electronics, computers, and communications.

Andrew and his late wife, Erna Finci Viterbi, have been our dear friends and devoted supporters for many years. Those who knew Erna always praised her outstanding personality, charm, passion, and dedication towards the Jewish People, the State of Israel, the Technion, and our department.

The Viterbi family’s naming gift secures the ability of our department to continue being a center of academic excellence, while fulfilling our vital role in the security and prosperity of the State of Israel. Moreover, this gift paves the way to new horizons and higher levels of scientific and technological achievements.

Prof. Viterbi has granted us an additional gift: one that cannot be quantified in mere numbers, yet its value is far greater. It is rare for a department to be affiliated with the name of a visionary scientific and technological giant whose academic contributions are taught as part of its advanced curriculum.

It is a distinct honor for our department to bear the Viterbi name, and a source of immense pride for all its faculty, engineers, students, and alumni to carry forth the Viterbi legacy.

Prof. Ariel Orda, Dean

Herman and Gertrude Gross Professor of Communications

Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering