Michael B. Pursley received a B.S. degree (with highest distinction) and a M.S. degree, both in electrical engineering from Purdue University. He received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California. Dr. Pursley’s industrial experience was primarily with the Space and Communications Group of the Hughes Aircraft Company during 1968- 74. In 1974 he served as an Acting Assistant Professor in the System Science Department of the University of California, Los Angeles.
From June 1974 through July 1993, he was with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Coordinated Science Laboratory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he was promoted to the rank of Professor in 1980. He had visiting faculty positions at UCLA and Caltech in 1985. Dr. Pursley has held the Holcombe Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clemson University since 1992. His research is in the general area of wireless communications and information theory with emphasis on spread-spectrum communications, adaptive protocols for packet radio networks, dynamic use of spectrum, cognitive radio, applications of error-control coding, and mobile wireless communication systems and networks. He is the author of two books and numerous articles in engineering and mathematics journals.
Michael is a member of Phi Eta Sigma, Tau Beta Pi, the ACM, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and an honorary member of Golden Key. He was elected Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
in 1982. He has served on the Board of Governors of the IEEE Information Theory Society, and he was elected president of that society in 1983. Dr. Pursley was a member of the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the IEEE during 1984-1991. He is currently a member of Editorial Advisory Board for the International Journal of Wireless Information Networks, and he is a Senior Editor of the IEEE Journal of Selected Areas in Communications. He served as Technical Program Chairman for the 1979 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory in Grignano, Italy, and he was Co-Chairman for the 1995 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory in Whistler, Canada.
Dr. Pursley was awarded an IEEE Centennial Medal in 1984, the Ellersick Award of the IEEE Communications Society in 1996, and the IEEE Military Communications Conference Award for Technical Achievement in 1999. In 2000 he received an IEEE Millennium Medal and the Clemson University Alumni Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research. He received the IEEE Communications Society Edwin Howard Armstrong Achievement Award in 2003, and in 2005 he received the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award in Academia. He received an Outstanding Electrical Engineer award from Purdue’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2008.
Mike is married to Lou Ann, a Delta Gamma at Purdue, and a former Chi Chapter Sweetheart. They have one daughter, Jessica, 33, who is currently a high school mathematics teacher in Greenville, SC.
Brother Pursley fondly recalls his years, “During my undergraduate and graduate years at Purdue, I always thought of the Chi Chapter house as my home, no matter where I was living at the time. For scholarly activity, community service, or recreation, Chi brothers were always available and ready to participate. Just knowing there was always a brother ready to join me in the dining room for a cup of coffee or at Harry’s for a beer made life at Purdue considerably more enjoyable and rewarding than if I had not been a member of Kappa Sigma.”
