Posted on February 28, 2001 at 1:23 p.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Gary J. Grimes, Ph.D., Wallace R. Bunn Professor of Telecommunications in the UAB School of Engineering and executive director of the UAB Center for Telecommunications Education and Research, was recently honored as 2000 Engineer of the Year by the Engineering Council of Birmingham.
Grimes, an electrical engineer and researcher, has invented a number of optical devices, a virtual-reality glove, and holds three patents for devices used to locate callers who dial 911 from cell phones. In all, he has been issued 60 U.S. patents and has 95 patent applications filed.
Grimes’ research at UAB currently is divided between telecommunications applications in healthcare and optical networking. One of the goals of this research is to bring the ultra high speed Internet of the future to the desktop in home and office settings at low cost via optical fiber with no speed-throttling copper wire in the path.
His optical networking research includes developing large-scale optical integrated circuits with Lightwave Microsystems of San Jose, Calif.; developing improved laser transceivers with Picolight Inc. of Boulder, Colo.; developing a super broadband laser with Atlantic Vision of Westborough, Mass., and the UAB Dept. of Physics; and developing advanced plastic optical fibers with Lucent Technologies/Bell Labs of Westminster, Colo., Delphi Automotive of Irvine, Calif., Boston Optical Fiber of Westborough, Mass., Honeywell in Minneapolis, Minn., and the Boeing Co. of Seattle, Wash. One of the goals of this research is to bring the ultra high speed Internet of the future to the desktop in home and office settings at low cost via optical fiber with no speed-throttling copper wire in the path.
His healthcare research includes developing telerehabilitation systems with Greenleaf Medical of Palo Alto, Calif.; developing applications of virtual reality in physical therapy with Virtual Rehabilitation Therapies of Hoover; and developing ways that emerging high speed wireless data networks can improve emergency heart attack care with the UAB Center for Healthcare Informatics.
“The Engineer of the Year Award means a lot to me personally,” Grimes said. “The aspect of the award that I appreciate the most is that it helps get out the message that the UAB Center for Telecommunications is anxious to help Alabama businesses compete in the global telecommunications, microelectronic, telemedicine, and optical networking markets. My dream is that someday there will be a mature high-technology industrial base in Alabama in telecom-related areas, providing a solid economic base of opportunity. Alabama has been competitive in manufacturing and assembly for decades. We need to add a strong research, development, and design component. I’m excited that UAB is ready to anchor this development.”
Grimes joined the UAB faculty in 1994. Prior to coming to UAB, he completed research at AT&T/Lucent Bell Laboratories, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and the National Institutes of Health. Grimes holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado-Boulder, an master’s in physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a bachelor’s in physics from the Colorado College.