Karu Esselle

Karu P. Esselle is an Australian scholar, professor, engineer, scientist and inventor. He is the Distinguished Professor in Electromagnetic and Antenna Engineering at University of Technology Sydney, Australia. He is the leader of the MetaSteerers Team, which won Australia's national 2023 Department of Defence Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia. He was named Australia's Professional Engineer of the Year for 2022 by Engineers Australia - the national body that oversees engineering practice and profession in Australia. Eureka prizes are considered the Oscars of Australian Science. He is also a visiting professor of electronic engineering at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

Esselle's other most recent awards include the top Space award in Australia – the "Winner of Winners" Excellence Award – as well as the Academic of Year Award at the 2022 Australian Space Awards, UTS 2022 Chancellor's Medal (which is the top Research Excellence award at UTS), Engineers Australia 2022 Sydney Professional Engineer of the Year title and the Bradfield Award (in addition to the national title mentioned previously), both the most prestigious Excellence Award and the Academic of the Year Award at 2021 Australian Defence Industry Awards, Finalist for the 2021 Australian National Eureka Prize for Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers, and the Runner Up for the same Eureka Prize in 2020. Eureka prizes are considered "Oscars" of Australian Science. Karu was the Chair of IEEE New South Wales 2016-17 and his contribution to profession earned many awards including 2021 IEEE Outstanding Volunteer Award from IEEE Asia-Pacific and 2011 Outstanding Branch Counselor Award from IEEE headquarters in USA.

Other Awards and Accolades
He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 2020. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a Fellow of Engineers Australia. In 2019, The Australian Special Report on Research named Esselle the National Research Field Leader in the field of Microelectronics and Electronic Packaging in Engineering as well as the National Research Leader in the field of Electromagnetism (in Physics & Mathematics Disciplines).

He was the leader of the team that designed the high-gain antenna system on board the world's first entirely Ka-band CubeSat spacecraft - Audacy Zero. The space craft was made by Audacy, USA, and launched to space in December 2018 by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. This is believed by Australian experts to be the first Australian-designed high-gain antenna system launched to space since CSIRO-designed antenna systems on board Australia's own FedSat satellite launched in 2002.

He and his co-authors were awarded the 2019 Motohisa Kanda Award for the most cited paper in the previous five years in IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility. He also won the 2019 Macquarie University Research Excellence Award for Innovative Technologies, a 2019 Australian Research Council Discovery International Award, the 2017 Excellence in Research Award from the Faculty of Science and Engineering, the 2017 Engineering Excellence Award for Best Innovation, the 2017 Highly Commended Research Excellence Award from Macquarie University, the 2017 Certificate of Recognition from IEEE Region 10, and the 2016 Engineering Excellence Awards for Best Published Paper from IESL NSW Chapter.

List of Major Awards and Accolades

27. 2023 Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science for Safeguarding Australia (Leader of MetaSteerers)

26. 2022 Professional Engineer of the Year (Australian national)

25. 2022 “Best of the winners” Excellence Award, Australian Space Awards

24. 2022 Academic of the Year, Australian Space Awards

23. 2022 The Chancellor’s Medal, University of Technology Sydney

22. 2022 Bradfield Award, Engineers Australia

21. 2022 Sydney Professional Engineer of the Year, Engineers Australia Sydney Division

20. 2021 “Best of the winners” Excellence Award, Australian Defence Industry Awards

19. 2021 Academic of the Year, Australian Defence Industry Awards

18. 2021 Outstanding Volunteer Award, IEEE Asia Pacific

17. 2021 Finalist, Australian national Eureka Prize for the Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers

16. 2020 Runner-up Finalist, 2020 Australian national Eureka Prize for the Outstanding Mentor of Young Researchers

15. 2020 Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales

14. 2020 Outstanding Volunteer Award, IEEE New South Wales

13. 2019 Motohisa Kanda Award for the most cited paper in five years in IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility

12. 2019 Macquarie University Research Excellence Award for Innovative Technologies

11. 2019 ARC Discovery International Award10. Engineering Excellence Award for Best Invention, IESL NSW Australia Chapter, 2017

9. Research Excellence Award, Faculty of Science and Engineering, 2017

8. Macquarie University Excellence in Research Awards Highly Commended – Innovative Technologies, 2017

7. Fellow grade of IEEE

6. Fellow of Engineers Australia, 2016.

5. Engineering Excellence Award for Best Published Paper, IESL NSW Australia Chapter, 2016

4. Engineering Excellence Award for Best Published Paper in Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering, from IESL NSW Australia Chapter, 2012

3. Outstanding Branch Counselor Award (Asia-Pacific Region) from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) headquarters, USA, 2011

2. Macquarie University Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision, 2008

1. Macquarie University Innovation Award for Best Invention Disclosure