J. R. Cruz is the Tilley Chaired Professor and the Director of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Oklahoma. He is an IEEE Life Fellow, a Fellow of the Radio Club of America, and the 2014 recipient of the Armstrong Medal for “important contributions to radio art and science.” He was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Houston where he received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. Prior to his academic career he worked as an engineer and task leader performing navigation analysis for the first two Space Shuttle missions at the NASA Johnson Space Center and as a member of the research staff of Motorola doing signal processing for mobile communications. Dr. Cruz’s current research interests are in applications of signal processing and coding to wireless communications and data storage. He has published over 150 papers on the above and related areas, holds several patents in the area of coding and detection for digital recording systems and was a co-recipient of the Best Paper Award at the 2007 IEEE International Conference on Communications. He is a former Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, and the recipient of the 1995 Outstanding Service Award from the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society, the IEEE Third Millennium Medal, and the IEEE Stuart Meyer Memorial Award. He has been named an Eminent Engineer by the Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honor Society in 2014. Dr. Cruz is a former Chairman of the Research Council of The University of Oklahoma, a Past President of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society and a current member of its Board of Governors.