Sandeep Pradhan named ECE’s 2021 HKN Professor of the Year

EECS students voted, and Prof. Sandeep Pradhan has been named the 2020–2021 HKN Professor of the Year in ECE by the Beta-Epsilon chapter of Eta Kappa Nu (HKN), the national honor society for electrical and computer engineers.

The Professor of the Year Award is given based on a popular vote by all undergraduate and graduate students in programs administered by the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

“It’s a great honor, and being recognized like this by the students is one of the greatest days for me,” said Pradhan just after he heard that he won the award.

During the past year, Pradhan taught three graduate level courses: Probability and Random Processes (EECS 501), Information Theory (EECS 550) and Quantum Information, Probability, and Computation (EECS 598).  EECS 501 is a course with high enrollment that is being taught in person/hybrid mode. During his career, Pradhan has taught 11 courses, three of which he developed from scratch, and a fourth he modified from an existing course. Nearly half of his PhD students have entered academia.

Pradhan joined the University of Michigan in 2002, and specializes in the area of network information theory. His attention has turned to quantum information theory and quantum field theory in recent years. He has received the NSF CAREER Award, the EECS Outstanding Achievement Award, and the College of Engineering Education Excellence Award. He is an IEEE Fellow.