The Rice Engineering Alumni (REA) board of directors has announced its 2007 awards for Outstanding Engineering Alumnus (OEA) and Outstanding Young Engineering Alumnus (OYEA). Named OEA was Richard Massey, who earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1953 and a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering in 1954. Named OYEA was Chaitali Sengupta, chief technology officer of SNRLabs, who earned her master’s degree in electrical engineering from Rice in 1995 and a PhD in 1999, both in electrical and computer engineering.

Massey started a 35-year career at AT&T Bell Laboratories in New York and New Jersey, advancing from design engineer to member of technical staff and senior engineering manager for several groups, including power circuits and materials, power components and materials, DC/DC electronic power conversion, and the military apparatus group.

While at AT&T, Massey earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from Columbia University in 1962. As a visiting professor on loan from AT&T Bell Laboratories, he taught electronics, network theory, power electronics, electromagnetic compatibility, and associated laboratory courses for two years before joining Rice as a lecturer. Beginning in 1989, Massey taught key foundational courses at Rice. The department of electrical and computer engineering honored Massey and his wife, Barbara, with a retirement party in April.

In 2004, Sengupta was named among the 100 Top Young Innovators by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Technology Review magazine for her contributions to the field of wireless (third-generation, or 3G) modem implementation, which provides the high-data rates that power such applications as video streaming, videoconferencing and mobile Internet access.

Sengupta recently joined SNRLabs, a start-up company in Richardson, Texas, where she is the chief technology officer. The firm is developing a convergence manager that will permit cell phones, smart phones and laptop computers to readily switch between different wireless networks at a lower cost and with better battery performance. Prior to joining SNRLabs, she worked in Dallas as a senior member of the technical staff at Texas Instruments.

The author of more than 20 conference and journal papers, Sengupta has contributed to several books, mostly devoted to efficient implementation of wireless systems, and holds two patents in the area of communications architectures. She is a native of India and earned a bachelor of technology in computer science and engineering in 1992 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

Dick and Chaitali will be honored during an event on Friday, November 2. The OEA has been presented annually since 1974 and recognizes alumni for outstanding professional achievement and community service. The OYEA, presented since 1996, recognizes the achievements of engineers 40 years and younger.