Professor Emeritus Don Butler Passes Away
Donald Butler, professor emeritus in the Electrical Engineering Department, passed away January 22 after a long illness.
Don joined UTA in 2002 and was granted emeritus status in 2017.
Prior to UTA, he rose through the ranks of the Electrical Engineering Department at SMU, joining the university as an assistant professor in 1987. He was promoted to associate professor in 1993 and to professor in 2001.
Don’s research focused on microsensors, uncooled infrared detectors, and other MEMS devices. He authored over 170 journal articles and conference presentations and held eight patents. He was a member of the Optical Society of America and IEEE, serving in various positions for IEEE and as an Electron Device Society Distinguished Lecturer. He was a recipient of the IEEE Third Millennium Medal and other IEEE service awards. He was a Topical Editor of Applied Optics/Optical Technology & Biomedical Optics.
He earned a B.A.Sc. degree in engineering science with a minor in physics option from the University of Toronto, in 1980, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Rochester, in 1981 and 1986, respectively. He performed his graduate research with the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, investigating the nonequilibrium behavior of superconductor thin films in response to picosecond electrical and optical excitations. He continued his graduate research as a Research Associate in 1986. In 1987, he joined the Electrical Engineering Department at SMU as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1993 and to professor in 2001.
Contributions in his memory may be made to the Kidney Cancer Association with Dr. Zeynep Çelik (zcelik@uta.edu) as the email address for notification.