Israeli computer whiz among five Marconi Young Scholar Award winners worldwide

Israeli computer whiz am

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Eitan Yaakobi (photo credit: )
Eitan Yaakobi
(photo credit: )
A communications science graduate of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa will be one of five students in the world to receive a top award next month from the New Yorkbased Marconi Society for his work in the fields of computer communications and Internet. Eitan Yaakobi, now a graduate student at the University of California at San Diego, was chosen by an international committee, specifically for his work on errorcorrecting coding in flash memories, which have contributed to reduced cost and increased capacity. Flash memory - computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed - is used mostly in memory cards and USB flash drives for general storage and transfer of data between computers and other digital devices. Yaakobi, who is now studying engineering, will receive the Marconi Society Young Scholar Award, which is now in its second year, on October 9 at the annual Marconi Awards Dinner at the Palazzo Re Enzo in Bologna. The dinner and the preceding two-day Marconi Symposium coincide with the centennial of Guglielmo Marconi's receipt of the 1909 Nobel Prize for inventing radio (wireless telegraphy). The Marconi Society, established in 1975, annually recognizes with the Marconi Prize a living scientist whose work in the field of communications and information technology brings social, economic and cultural advancement to all of humanity. According to society chairman Robert Lucky, Marconi Society Young Scholars have demonstrated "extraordinary early promise and already have made an impact in their fields of research." The international selection committee seeks candidates who demonstrate potential for winning the Marconi Prize - the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in communications science - some time in the future. Marconi Fellows have been at the forefront of every modern advance telecommunications and Internet. Born in Kiryat Shmona, Yaakobi received two BA degrees from the Technion four years ago, both summa cum laude, in computer science and mathematics. He also completed his M.Sc. degree with highest honors in computer science at the Technion in 2007. The Marconi Society Young Scholars Awards are funded by 2007 Marconi fellow Prof. Ronald Rivest of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who co-founded RSA encryption, the major encryption system used throughout the world for secure Internet transactions.