It’s not every day that someone gives away $100,000, but that’s what Andrea Goldsmith did when she became the first woman to win the Marconi Prize, the top honor in information and communications research. The engineering professor’s work has enabled billions of people around the world to enjoy fast, reliable cell phone and WiFi networks, as well as applications for video streaming and autonomous vehicles that require stable network performance. Beyond that, Goldsmith has an even greater ambition: she wants to make engineering more inclusive and diverse.
In this conversation, explore Andrea Goldsmith’s unique story as a technology innovator, serial entrepreneur, passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, and educator for the next generation of engineers.
This discussion guide introduces questions for reflection and conversation that enhance and extend what you learn through watching the video. It is intended for high school students and others who wish to explore. Use this guide with your friends and family to reflect on topics such as understanding wireless technology, educating the next generation of engineers, innovation and entrepreneurship, and diversity and inclusion in STEM (science, technology engineering, and Math).
WiFi engineer, entrepreneur, and educator Andrea Goldsmith fields questions from four different moderators.
Andrea Goldsmith speaks about the problem she was trying to solve with her research, her solution, and its impact on humanity.
Andrea Goldsmith shares her advice for students to be open-minded about what they should study and their educational trajectory. She also reflects on diversity in education.
Andrea Goldsmith discusses the big idea that made her take a leap of faith and start her own company.
Andrea Goldsmith shares her perspective on the importance of diversity and inclusion in her career as an engineer, professor, and entrepreneur. She also highlights how data can be used to convince people that bias exists.
Andrea Goldsmith is currently the Dean of Engineering and Applied Science and the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University, while retaining her affiliation with Stanford University as Harris Professor Emerita.
Her research interests are in information theory, communication theory, and signal processing, and their application to wireless communications, interconnected systems, and neuroscience. She founded and served as Chief Technical Officer of Plume WiFi (formerly Accelera, Inc.) and of Quantenna (QTNA), Inc, and she currently serves on the Board of Directors for Medtronic (MDT) and Crown Castle Inc (CCI). She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the IEEE. She is currently the founding Chair of the IEEE Board of Directors Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, and Ethics.
She is author of the book “Wireless Communications” and co-author of the books “MIMO Wireless Communications” and “Principles of Cognitive Radio,” all published by Cambridge University Press, as well as an inventor on 29 patents. She received the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from U.C. Berkeley.
