Marconi Society Honors Inaugural Class of Institute Award Winners

Dr. David Bray, Dr. Pierrette Renée Dagg, and Dr. Hamid Jafarkhani to be honored at the 2026 Marconi Awards Gala & Institute Forums

CHICAGO, IL, UNITED STATES, July 23, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Marconi Society today announced the recipients of its inaugural Institute Awards. Dr. David Bray receives the Marconi Award for Excellence in Artificial Intelligence, Dr. Pierrette Renée Dagg receives the Marconi Award for Leadership in Internet Resilience, and Dr. Hamid Jafarkhani receives the Marconi Award for Innovation in Wireless Communications. All three will be honored at the 2026 Marconi Institute Forums on Thursday, November 5, 2026, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California.

Nominations for each Institute Award are evaluated against criteria specific to that Institute's mission, spanning technical innovation, real-world impact, and leadership in building the field's future. This inaugural class reflects the breadth of that mission: work safeguarding responsible AI deployment, community broadband research, and the wireless standards embedded in billions of devices worldwide.

"We're proud to launch the Institute Awards with such an outstanding inaugural class," said John Janowiak, President and CEO of the Marconi Society. "The recipients have spent a career turning technical depth into benefit that reaches real people in public health systems, in unconnected communities, and in the standards that carry billions of devices online."

Marconi Award for Excellence in Artificial Intelligence: Dr. David Bray
Dr. David Bray has spent more than two decades translating advanced technology into public benefit at the national scale, from building the CDC's bioterrorism-response information systems to modernizing 207 legacy IT systems at the FCC onto modern cloud infrastructure. As Executive Director of the People-Centered Internet coalition, chaired by Vint Cerf, and co-chair of IEEE committees on AI standards, he has helped build global frameworks for responsible AI governance well ahead of today's debates, bridging AI innovation with healthcare, national security, and public policy.

"I first met David in 2010 and have worked with him in different capacities spanning the U.S. Intelligence Community, FCC, People-Centered Internet, GeoTech Commission, and Stimson Center. In each of those roles, he bridged advances in various forms of AI, agents, and digital bots with community-centered non-partisan actions, navigated unfair flak thrown by political actors, and remained a steadfast leader advancing meaningful, beneficial, human-centered outcomes across different sectors and free societies," said Vint Cerf, Internet innovator and former Marconi Society Chairman

Marconi Award for Leadership in Internet Resilience: Dr. Pierrette Renée Dagg
As Director of Research at Merit Network and a research associate at Michigan State University's Quello Center, Dr. Pierrette Renée Dagg has built the evidence base that turns broadband investment into lasting community resilience, co-authoring frameworks now used to monitor and evaluate policy and documenting the community broadband champions closing connectivity gaps in underserved regions. Her work bridges technical research, policy design, and grassroots practice to ensure Internet infrastructure reaches the communities most at risk of being left offline.

"Dr. Pierrette Dagg’s recognition highlights the impact of Merit’s work at the intersection of advanced networking, research, education, and 60 years of service to our community,” said Roger Blake, CEO of Merit Network, Inc. “We are thrilled to congratulate Pierrette on this well-deserved recognition and on the shared mission it represents, inspired by the Marconi Society."

Marconi Award for Innovation in Wireless Communications: Dr. Hamid Jafarkhani
Dr. Hamid Jafarkhani’s co-invention of space-time block coding introduced mathematical frameworks that enabled reliable wireless communication over multiple antennas, work that now underlies mobile cellular networks and Wi-Fi standards used by billions of devices worldwide. His subsequent contributions to limited-feedback MIMO and reconfigurable-antenna systems, spanning 52 patents and more than 150 journal articles, continue to shape the technical foundations of next-generation wireless communications.

"Very few researchers have made such wide-ranging contributions to the birth of the mobile wireless connectivity that we now take for granted," said Lee A. Swindlehurst, Distinguished Professor and Chair, Samueli School of Engineering.

The 2026 Marconi Awards Gala & Institute Forums will be held November 4-6, 2026, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California. To inquire about event participation and sponsorship opportunities, contact Flora Tromelin at ftromelin@marconisociety.org or +1-480-828-6064.

About the Marconi Society
The Marconi Society builds communities of leaders and stakeholders at the forefront of emerging technology to create a more connected and sustainable world. Through its Institutes in AI, Internet Resilience, and Advanced Wireless, we convene global experts to advance technologies that benefit society.

For more information, visit www.marconisociety.org.

Yeimidy Lagunas
Marconi Society
+1 224-399-7333
ylagunas@marconisociety.org
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.