Marconi Society names first Institute Award winners

The Marconi Society announced its inaugural Institute Award recipients on July 23, 2026, honoring leaders in artificial intelligence, internet resilience and wireless communications. The winners will be recognized at the 2026 Marconi Institute Forums and Gala in San Francisco in November.

Why it matters: - The inaugural awards spotlight work that affects public health systems, underserved broadband access and the wireless standards used by billions of devices. - The honorees reflect the Marconi Society’s push to recognize technical innovation alongside real-world impact and field leadership. - The awards also signal where the organization sees the biggest technology stakes: responsible AI, community connectivity and next-generation wireless systems.

What happened: - The Marconi Society announced its first Institute Award recipients on July 23, 2026. - Dr. David Bray received the Marconi Award for Excellence in Artificial Intelligence. - Dr. Pierrette Renée Dagg received the Marconi Award for Leadership in Internet Resilience. - Dr. Hamid Jafarkhani received the Marconi Award for Innovation in Wireless Communications. - The three honorees will be recognized at the 2026 Marconi Institute Forums on Thursday, November 5, 2026, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. - The 2026 Marconi Awards Gala & Institute Forums runs November 4-6, 2026, at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.

The details: - Institute Award nominations are evaluated on each Institute’s mission, including technical innovation, real-world impact and leadership in shaping the field’s future. - Dr. Bray’s work includes building the CDC’s bioterrorism-response information systems and modernizing 207 legacy IT systems at the FCC onto cloud infrastructure. - Dr. Bray also serves as executive director of the People-Centered Internet coalition and co-chairs IEEE committees on AI standards. - The Marconi Society said Dr. Bray has helped build global frameworks for responsible AI governance before today’s wider debates. - Dr. Dagg is director of research at Merit Network and a research associate at Michigan State University’s Quello Center. - Dr. Dagg has co-authored frameworks used to monitor and evaluate broadband policy and documented community broadband champions working to close connectivity gaps. - Dr. Jafarkhani co-invented space-time block coding, a mathematical framework that supports reliable wireless communication over multiple antennas. - Dr. Jafarkhani’s work underlies mobile cellular networks and Wi-Fi standards used by billions of devices. - Dr. Jafarkhani’s later research includes limited-feedback MIMO and reconfigurable-antenna systems. - Dr. Jafarkhani holds 52 patents and has published more than 150 journal articles. - John Janowiak, president and CEO of the Marconi Society, said the recipients turned technical depth into benefits for people in public health systems, unconnected communities and the standards that carry billions of devices online. - Vint Cerf said Dr. Bray bridged advances in AI, agents and digital bots with community-centered, non-partisan action across multiple roles. - Roger Blake, CEO of Merit Network, said Dr. Dagg’s recognition highlights Merit’s work at the intersection of advanced networking, research, education and 60 years of community service. - Lee A. Swindlehurst said few researchers have contributed as broadly to the birth of mobile wireless connectivity. - Event participation and sponsorship inquiries go to Flora Tromelin at ftromelin@marconisociety.org or +1-480-828-6064. - More information is available on the Marconi Society website. - The Marconi Society also listed its LinkedIn page at Marconi Society on LinkedIn.

Between the lines: - The awards mix academic research with deployed infrastructure work, suggesting the Marconi Society is prioritizing technologies that move from lab to large-scale use. - The inaugural class spans AI, broadband resilience and wireless communications, which points to the Society’s broader view of connected systems as interdependent. - The recognition of standards work matters because technical standards can influence markets long after the original research is published.

What’s next: - The honorees will be formally recognized in San Francisco in November during the 2026 Marconi Institute Forums and Gala. - The Marconi Society will use its Institutes in AI, Internet Resilience and Advanced Wireless to continue convening experts around technology with social impact. - Sponsorship and attendance interest will likely build ahead of the November event as the Society expands the new awards program.

The bottom line: - The Marconi Society is using its first Institute Awards to put a spotlight on technologists whose work already shapes public systems, network resilience and the wireless devices people use every day.