Adel S. Sedra

Biography

Adel Sedra was born in Egypt on November 2, 1943. He received the B.Sc. degree from Cairo University, Egypt, in 1964, and the M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Toronto, Canada, in 1968 and 1969 respectively, all in Electrical Engineering.

Dr. Sedra joined the faculty of the University of Toronto in 1969. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1972 and to Professor in 1978. During 1986-1993, he served as Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering (now Electrical and Computer Engineering). On July 1, 1993 he assumed the position of Vice-President, Provost, and Chief Academic Officer of the University of Toronto.

Dr. Sedra specializes in the area of microelectronics. His research has centered on the theory and design of circuits for communication and instrumentation-systems and has resulted in about 130 papers. His earlier work in the late 1960s was on current-mode circuits and their use in active filter synthesis. In the course of this work, together with K.C. Smith, he invented the current conveyor, a popular circuit building block that has stimulated considerable interest two decades later. Dr. Sedra's later work on active-AC filter design provided both new circuits as well as general theories that served to tie together many seemingly disconnected circuit topologies. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was one of the first to work on the then emerging switched capacitor filter techniques. More recently, his work has been on tuneable and adaptive integrated filters.

Dr. Sedra has guided the research of over 60 graduate students., many of whom are currently in leading positions in industry and universities. He has co-authored three textbooks. One of his books Microelectronic Circuits (Oxford University Press) first appeared in 1982, is currently in its third edition and has been translated into eight languages, and is currently in use at hundreds of Universities around the world. This book (co-authored by K.C. Smith) represents, between its two authors, nearly 70 years of thinking about, designing and teaching electronic circuits at all levels and in every possible technology.

Dr. Sedra has served as a consultant to industry and government in Canada and the U.S.A. He was involved in the founding of two centres-of-excellence, in information technology and microelectronics, and served on the Boards of Directors of a number of organizations dedicated to the promotion and sponsorship of research. He has also been active in professional societies, most notably the IEEE, serving in a variety of roles.

Dr. Sedra is a Fellow of the IEEE. He has received a number of awards including: the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Darlington (1984), Guillemin-Cauer (1987), and Education (1994) Awards; Fellow, Ryerson Polytechnic University (1989); and the Information Tuchnology of Canada/NSERC Research Excellence Award (1993).

Adel Sedra lives in Toronto with his wife, Doris, and two children, Paul and Mark.