As recognition for his outstanding achievements as a young member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer’s Microwave Theory and Techniques Society, Dr. Adrian Tang of UCLA has been chosen as a 2021 recipient of the Society’s Outstanding Young Engineer Award. In contrast to the Society’s other accolades, the Outstanding Young Engineer Award is distinct for its recognition of the person behind specific achievements, as opposed to the achievements themselves.
Dr. Tang’s revolutionary work surrounding the infusion of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors (CMOS) in space instrumentation allows for entirely different measurement and visualization techniques of our planet’s atmosphere, more specifically how water and greenhouse gases are able to traverse it. These new instrument design techniques allow researchers a new lens via which to study the process of climate change and can even help in updating existing models and trends. One of the planetary science instruments benefiting most from Dr. Tang’s work is the Planetary Instrument for Submillimeter-wave Surface and Atmospheric Reconnaissance and Research in Orbit (PISSARRO). This instrument allows scientists to observe planetary moon surfaces and even detect water on ancient celestial bodies like asteroids and comets; Dr. Tang’s work allows science instruments like this to operate on a scale and scope magnitudes beyond what was previously possible. With this new data we are able to gain a deeper insight not only into our own planet, but also planets throughout the galaxy that may contain life. These incredible developments were put on full display during a NASA sub-orbital mission in 2019 that Dr. Tang led, named, the Reck-Tang Limbsounding Experiment or “ReckTangLE.”
