EECS establishes Campbell L. Searle Graduate Fellowship Fund

The Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) has announced the creation of the Campbell L. Searle Graduate Fellowship Fund. The fund was established in memory of long-time EECS Professor Campbell (“Cam”) Searle, who passed away in January 2020 at age 93. Generously funded by EECS Professor Jae S. Lim, the fellowship is intended to support EECS graduate students who are pursuing research in electrical engineering. The fund honors the extraordinary life and contributions of Professor Searle.

Searle was associated with MIT for more than 40 years, earning a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1951, then serving as a professor, mentor, and researcher until his retirement in 1992. Among other contributions, he spearheaded the development of a new semiconductor-devices and circuits curriculum, and co-authored the definitive introductory textbook on transistor electronics.

Professor Searle was also part of the team of people in the late 1980s and early 1990s who led the creation of the EECS Masters of Engineering (MEng) program. This program constituted a substantial change in the MIT EECS educational program, as it provided a straightforward route for existing undergraduate students to obtain a valuable master’s degree that did not previously exist.

Professor Lim remarked that “Campbell was a professor whom I really respected as a person. He went out of his way to help others.” Lim, who received bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from MIT, has been an EECS faculty member since 1978. He directs the Advanced Telecommunications Research Program in MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics. Earlier this month, he received South Korea’s prestigious Ho-Am Prize for Engineering.