Steve Eugene Watkins

Steve Eugene Watkins is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology. He serves as the Director of the Applied Optics Laboratory (APOL) and has held leadership roles including Interim Department Chair (2020-2022), IEEE-HKN President (2018), and IEEE Education Society Vice-President (2019-2022).

• Education: PhD (1989) and MS (1985) in Electrical Engineering from University of Texas at Austin and University of Missouri–Rolla respectively.
• Research Interests: Smart sensor systems, UAV instrumentation, fiber optic sensing, structural health monitoring, and pre-college engineering outreach.

Awards:

• ASEE Meritorious Service Award (2023)
• SPIE Fellow (2018)
• IEEE-HKN Distinguished Service Award (2021)
• Toastmasters Presidential Citation (2003)

Professional Activities: Advisor to IEEE-HKN and Tau Beta Pi, co-coordinator of S&T Pre-college Robotics Summer Camp, and inventor of a U.S. Patent (7,603,004) for neural network demodulation in optical sensors.