Bedair wins Kuwait Prize

Dr. Salah M. Bedair, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University, has received the 2012 Kuwait Prize in Applied Sciences from the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS).

The award, which recognizes researchers who have contributed original, distinguished and published work to their field in the last 10 years, supports the KFAS mission to advance scientific research and encourage scholars and researchers in Kuwait and other countries in the Arab world. The prize is awarded annually to one Kuwaiti citizen and one citizen from another Arab country.

Bedair, who was born in Egypt, has made significant contributions to the field of applied energy. A pioneer in the development of multi-junction solar cells, Bedair has also made important contributions to light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, and low-power electronic devices.

Bedair was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 1992 and received the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Extension the same year.

He received a BS in electrical engineering from Alexandria University in 1960 and an MS in nuclear engineering and PhD in engineering science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1965 and 1969, respectively.