Curtis Carlson
Encyclopedia
Curtis Raymond Carlson (born 1945) is currently the president and CEO of SRI International
SRI International
SRI International , founded as Stanford Research Institute, is one of the world's largest contract research institutes. Based in Menlo Park, California, the trustees of Stanford University established it in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. It was later...

 and a prominent technologist.

Initially a physics graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a private university located in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the United States.Founded in 1865 in Worcester, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities...

 and PhD student at in geophysical fluid dynamics from Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...

, he joined Sarnoff Corporation
Sarnoff Corporation
Sarnoff Corporation, with headquarters in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, was a research and development company specializing in vision, video and semiconductor technology....

 after graduation and worked through the ranks. While at Sarnoff, Carlson led teams that developed the HDTV standard and designed a system to assess broadcast image quality, both of which were awarded a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
A Technology and Engineering Emmy Award is given by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievement in technical or engineering development...

.

In 1998, Carlson was named CEO of SRI International, a post previously held by William P. Sommers
William P. Sommers
William P. "Bill" Sommers was an engineer and business executive several companies, including Booz Allen Hamilton, Lameter, and SRI International.-Education:...

. For his contributions, Carlson was awarded Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Robert H. Goddard
Robert H. Goddard
Robert Hutchings Goddard was an American professor, physicist and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, which he successfully launched on March 16, 1926...

 Alumni Award in 2002 and the Society for Information Display
Society for Information Display
The Society for Information Display is an industry organization for displays, generally electronic displays such as televisions and computer monitors. SID was founded in 1962. Its main activities are publishing technical journals and running Display Week, its main conference, held in May each year...

's Otto H. Schade
Otto H. Schade
Otto H. Schade was a noted television pioneer, best known for his work on evaluating the gradation, graininess and sharpness in film and television images, and his aperture theory that mathematically modeled the system performance of photographic lenses, films, television tubes, and electrical...

 Award in 2006.

Education

Carlson earned his B.S. in physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

 from Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a private university located in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the United States.Founded in 1865 in Worcester, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities...

 in 1967 and a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in geophysical fluid dynamics
Geophysical fluid dynamics
Geophysical fluid dynamics is the study of naturally occurring, large-scale flows on Earth and other planets. It is applied to the motion of fluids in the ocean and outer core, and to gases in the atmosphere of Earth and other planets...

 from Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...

 in 1973.

Sarnoff Corporation

Starting in 1973, Carlson participated in research and development in the field of imaging systems, working with the RCA Sarnoff Laboratory
Sarnoff Corporation
Sarnoff Corporation, with headquarters in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, was a research and development company specializing in vision, video and semiconductor technology....

.

In 1981, Carlson was named the Director of the Image Quality and Perception Research Group and Vice President of the laboratory in 1990. In 1995, Carlson became Executive Vice President of Sarnoff's Interactive Systems Division.

He also led the 1997 team that developed the HDTV program that became the US standard, and the 2000 team that designed a system to assess broadcast image quality. Both of these teams were awarded a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
A Technology and Engineering Emmy Award is given by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievement in technical or engineering development...

 for their accomplishments.

SRI International

He has served as the president of SRI International since 1998.

Carlson is known for a term known as "Carlson's Law", coined by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman
Thomas Friedman
Thomas Lauren Friedman is an American journalist, columnist and author. He writes a twice-weekly column for The New York Times. He has written extensively on foreign affairs including global trade, the Middle East, and environmental issues and has won the Pulitzer Prize three times.-Personal...

 to describe Carlson's balance between autocracy and democracy in an organization: "In a world where so many people now have access to education and cheap tools of innovation, innovation that happens from the bottom up tends to be chaotic but smart. Innovation that happens from the top down tends to be orderly but dumb."

Memberships and awards

Carlson has served on several government task forces including the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, the Army Science Board
Army Science Board
The Army Science Board is a Federal Advisory Committee organized under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. It is the Department of the Army senior scientific advisory body that was chartered in 1977 to replace the Army Scientific Advisory Panel...

 and the Defense Science Board
Defense Science Board
The Defense Science Board is a committee of civilian experts appointed to advise the U.S. Department of Defense on scientific and technical matters...

 task force on bio-chemical defense. He is a member of the Highlands Group, which makes recommendations to government officials regarding technological developments of interest to the government. In 2010, he was named to the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

In 2002, Carlson was awarded Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Robert H. Goddard
Robert H. Goddard
Robert Hutchings Goddard was an American professor, physicist and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, which he successfully launched on March 16, 1926...

 Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement. Carlson has been involved in establishing WPI's Silicon Valley Project Center. He has given several commencement speech
Commencement speech
A commencement speech or commencement address is a speech given to graduating students, generally at a university, although the term is also used for secondary education institutions. The "commencement" is a ceremony in which degrees or diplomas are conferred upon graduating students...

es, including at WPI on May 20, 2006; at Stevens Institute of Technology on May 22, 2008; and at University of Richmond
University of Richmond
The University of Richmond is a selective, private, nonsectarian, liberal arts university located on the border of the city of Richmond and Henrico County, Virginia. The University of Richmond is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and graduate...

 on May 8, 2011. He received the Otto H. Schade
Otto H. Schade
Otto H. Schade was a noted television pioneer, best known for his work on evaluating the gradation, graininess and sharpness in film and television images, and his aperture theory that mathematically modeled the system performance of photographic lenses, films, television tubes, and electrical...

 Award from the Society for Information Display
Society for Information Display
The Society for Information Display is an industry organization for displays, generally electronic displays such as televisions and computer monitors. SID was founded in 1962. Its main activities are publishing technical journals and running Display Week, its main conference, held in May each year...

 in June 2006.

Carlson has received honorary degrees from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Stevens Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology is a technological university located on a campus in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA – founded in 1870 with an 1868 bequest from Edwin A. Stevens. It is known for its engineering, science, and technological management curricula.The institute has produced leading...

 and Kettering University
Kettering University
Kettering University is a university in Flint, Michigan, offering degrees in engineering, math, science, and business. The campus is located along the Flint River on property that used to be the main manufacturing location for General Motors...

. Carlson is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...

, Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society is a non-profit honor society which was founded in 1886 at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a handful of graduate students. Members elect others on the basis of their research achievements or potential...

, Tau Beta Pi
Tau Beta Pi
The Tau Beta Pi Association is the oldest engineering honor society in the United States and the second oldest collegiate honor society in America. It honors engineering students who have shown a history of academic achievement as well as a commitment to personal and professional integrity...

, and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE , founded in 1916 as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers or SMPE, is an international professional association, based in...

.

Selected publications

, named in Bloomberg Businessweeks Best Business Books of 2006.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK