Peter Mitchell Grant (born 20 June 1944) is Senior Honorary Professorial Fellow, former Regius Professor of Engineering and Head of School of Engineering and Electronics at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. In 2004 he was awarded the 82nd

Faraday Medal The Faraday Medal is a top international medal awarded by the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) (previously called the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)). As one of the world's most prestigious awards in engineering, it ...

by the

Institute of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and information technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of Tel ...

for his 'outstanding contributions to

signal processing Signal processing is an electrical engineering subfield that focuses on analyzing, modifying and synthesizing ''signals'', such as audio signal processing, sound, image processing, images, Scalar potential, potential fields, Seismic tomograph ...

Education

Peter Mitchell Grant was born in

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

and educated at Strathallan School,

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He studied electrical and electronic engineering (BSc Hons) at Heriot Watt University and then for a PhD at the University of Edinburgh.

Career

Following graduation from Heriot-Watt University in 1966 Grant worked for

Plessey The Plessey Company plc was a British electronics, defence and telecommunications company. It originated in 1917, growing and diversifying into electronics. It expanded after World War II by acquisition of companies and formed overseas compani ...

Havant Havant ( ) is a town in the south-east corner of Hampshire, England. Nearby places include Portsmouth to the south-west, Southampton to the west, Waterlooville to north, Chichester to the east and Hayling Island to the south. The wider borough ...

as a development engineer on the design of digital frequency synthesisers and standards for the Clansman mobile radio communications system. In 1970 Grant moved to

Glenrothes Glenrothes ( ; ; , ) is a town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It had a population of 39,277 in the 2011 census, making it the third largest settlement in Fife and the 18th most populous locality in Scotland. Glenroth ...

to work for Hughes Microelectronics where he had responsibility for the development of an electronic coin recognition system. Between 1971 and 1976 he was a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh where he studied the design and applications of

surface acoustic wave A surface acoustic wave (SAW) is an acoustic wave traveling along the surface of a material exhibiting elastic (solid mechanics), elasticity, with an amplitude that typically decays exponentially with depth into the material, such that they are c ...

(SAW) programmable analogue matched filters in communication systems, attaining his PhD in 1975. From 1976 to 1982 Mitchell was a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, where he continued his earlier research with emphasis on the design of a range of wideband analogue Fourier transform processors for signal intercept, analysis and processing. In 1977 he was invited to take the position of visiting assistant professor at the Gintzon Laboratory,

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where he supervised the design of a digital phased array acoustic imaging system. From 1982 to 1987 he was a reader at the University of Edinburgh, where his research focused on lattice, frequency domain and block adaptive transversal and nonlinear filter structures for the design of faster converging adaptive equalisers for radio communication applications. In 1985 he was invited by the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Lincoln Laboratory The MIT Lincoln Laboratory, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, is a United States Department of Defense federally funded research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security. Research and dev ...

to conduct research into radar and optical image processing. In 1987 he was appointed Professor of Electronic Signal Processing at the University of Edinburgh, where he led the department's signal processing research group activities and actively investigated future research activities for the group in mobile communications, through collaboration with industrial companies. From 2002 until 2008 Professor Grant was Head of School of Engineering and Electronics at the University of Edinburgh. In 2008 he was a visiting professor at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

and in 2009 a visiting fellow at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. Throughout his career Grant has been a member or chairman of numerous committees, most notably, the Scottish Science Advisory Council; advising the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

on topics regarding science, engineering and technology. Grant was president of the European Association for Signal, Speech and Image Processing (EURASIP) from 2000 to 2002. He was a long serving Trustee and now Honorary Fellow of the

James Clerk Maxwell Foundation The James Clerk Maxwell Foundation is a Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, registered Scottish charity set up in 1977. By supporting physics and mathematics, it honors one of the greatest physicists, James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), an ...

. He has been a director of several companies and awarded four full international patents.

Publications

Grant has over four hundred publications to his name, including four books: * * * *

Honours and awards

Fellow of

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

, New York (FIEEE). Fellow of

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

(FREng). Fellow of

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

(FRSE). Fellow of

Institution of Engineering and Technology The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) is a multidisciplinary professional engineering institution. The IET was formed in 2006 from two separate institutions: the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), dating back to 1871,Engin ...

, formerly Electrical Engineers, London (FIET/FIEE). Fellow of the

Higher Education Academy Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) is a British charity and professional membership scheme promoting excellence in higher education. It advocates evidence-based teaching methods and awards fellowships as professional recogniti ...

, formerly Institute for Learning and Teaching (ILTM/FHEA). In 2007 he was one of the first four signal processing researchers to be elevated to 'EURASIP Fellow', the European Association of Signal Processing's most prestigious honour. In 2009 Queens Birthday Honours he was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE). In 2006 he was awarded an honorary DEng degree from Heriot-Watt University In 2007 he was awarded an honorary DEng degree from

Napier University Edinburgh Napier University () is a public university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Napier Technical College, the predecessor of the university, was founded in 1964, taking its name from 16th-century Scottish mathematician and philosopher John Napie ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Peter Mitchell 1944 births Living people People educated at Strathallan School Alumni of Heriot-Watt University Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Scottish electrical engineers Scottish scholars and academics Fellows of the IEEE Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Higher Education Academy Fellows of the Institution of Engineering and Technology Officers of the Order of the British Empire Stanford University Department of Electrical Engineering faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Rice University faculty Princeton University fellows Regius Professors of Engineering in Edinburgh University