- I have been elected as the winner of the “2016 GEDC Airbus Diversity Award” in a ceremony that was held during the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC) and the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES) Annual Conference in Seoul South Korea. The award citation states, “Out of a total of 40 candidates from 17 countries, Dr Yacob Astatke was selected as the award recipient for his impressive introduction of technology and training initiatives across universities in Ethiopia to improve the delivery of engineering education in Africa.”

Dr. Astatke with GEDC President Dean Kilpatrick (left) and Président of Airbus Operations SAS Charles Champion (right)
- Here is additional information regarding my 2016 GEDC Airbus Award by Black Engineer of Year (BEYA) Group.
- Here is additional information regarding my 2016 GEDC Airbus Award in an article entitled “Three Black Scholars Honored with Prestigious Awards” by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
- I have been selected as the winner of the 2016 DR. IVA G. JONES MEDALLION MANTEL Award by Morgan State University. This award is one of the highest given to any faculty member at the university. I received my award at the Fall 2016 Matriculation Convocation ceremony, which was held on the campus of Morgan State University on Thursday September 8, 2016. Here are some pictures from the Award Ceremony.
- I have been selected as the winner of the 2016 Black Engineer of the Year (BEYA) for College Level Promotion of Education . I received my award at the BEYA 2016 ceremony, which was held in Philadelphia PA February 2016.
- Here are a few pictures from the 2016 BEYA Conference
- My acceptance speech is shown below. I hope that you will find it inspirational.
“People talk about the 3 P’s of success in life: Passion, Patience, and Perseverance in everything we do. I want to add a fourth and most important P in my life: Prayer. I have learned through my lifetime that every time I face a very difficult challenge, it does not mean God is not listening to my prayers. It means that God has something better in store for me, and I just need the patience and perseverance to see it through. I am deeply blessed by my parents, wife, and sons and thank the Lord Almighty. Medhane Alem Kebru Yesfa.”
- I have been selected by a Morgan Student to become an honorary member of the prestigious Phi Eta Sigma (PES) International Honor Society. Honorary members are selected for their individual accomplishments, community involvement and because of their proven success and support of academics, leadership and service. I will accept my award at a ceremony that will be held on Thursday March 20, 2014.
- Here is a recent article entitled, “Teaching for a Wired Generation” from the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) September 2013 issue of the PRISM magazine. The article discusses the work that has led to my selection as the National Outstanding Teaching Award winner for 2013.
- Pictures from the 2013 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) national conference in Atlanta where I received the medal and certificate for being selected as the National Outstanding Teaching Award winner for 2013. This award covers 340 engineering schools and close to 27,000 engineering faculty members (i.e. teachers) from all 50 states.

With Dean DeLoatch from Morgan State University. He has been the leader of our school of engineering for the past 30 years!

With colleagues from Morgan State University: Dr James, Dean DeLoatch, and Dr. Scott (ECE Dept chair)
- Here is a 10 minute interview I completed with an Ethiopian radio station called Admas radio located in Atlanta. Click here to listen to part 1 of the interview (note: it starts around the 45th minute. The interview is in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia).
- Here is a story on the Ethiopian website called Diretube.com about my ASEE award. Click here to view the story (note: some of the content is in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia).
- As the Associate Chair for the ECE department, I am very happy to announce that our department has been chosen as the winner and first recipient of the “2013 EDECHA Diversity Award” by the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association (ECEDHA). It should be noted that our department has been chosen to receive this award out of 580 similar EE/ECE programs in the country. The ECEDHA conference website is shown here.
The criteria for the award call was as follows:
“This award is given to department(s) or individual(s) in recognition of proactive efforts to increase cultural, ethnic, and gender diversity within the ECE student body and among ECE faculty, that go well beyond and above the normal institutional recruiting practices. The selection is based primarily on a qualitative evaluation of the diversity initiative as described on the nomination form to recognize and encourage effective outstanding initiatives that lead to greater diversity within ECE programs. The individual or department recognized by this award need not be a member of ECEDHA at the time of the award, nor is it necessary for an individual to have been a department head.”
- I am very privileged to be listed as one of 10 faculty members nationwide that have been highlighted on Agilent Technology’s Faculty Spotlight website. Please follow the link below to read about their excellent article about Morgan State University’s Online Electrical Engineering Program.
- Winner of the “2012-2013 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Mid-Atlantic Region Distinguished Teacher Award.” The Mid-Atlantic division includes engineering schools from 6 states :Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C.
- Morgan State University Junior Class of 2013 “Morgan Spotlight” Honoree Award winner (March 2012)
- Won 2nd price award for best graduate student paper at 2010 International Telemetering Conference (ITC 2010), San Diego, CA, October 25-28 , 2010.
- Won 1st price award for best graduate student paper at the 2008 International Telemetering Conference (ITC 2008), San Diego, CA, October 27-30 , 2008.