UTA professor wins prestigious automotive award

Hongtei Eric Tseng receives 2024 Soichiro Honda Medal for his engineering contributions

Friday, Jun 21, 2024 • Brian Lopez : contact

Eric Tseng headshot

Hongtei Eric Tseng, a distinguished university professor in the UT Arlington Department of Electrical Engineering, has been awarded the 2024 Soichiro Honda Medal, which recognizes an individual for an outstanding achievement or a series of significant engineering contributions in developing improvements in the field of personal transportation.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), which awards the medal once a year, chose Dr. Tseng for his “contributions to automotive computer controls, estimation, and fault detection, resulting in improved safety and performance of millions of vehicles worldwide.”

“I am deeply honored and humbled to receive this prestigious award, particularly to stand alongside one of my key mentors, Professor Masayoshi Tomizuka, the 2019 awardee, and my most respected role model, the late Professor Huei Peng, the 2023 awardee,” Tseng said.

Tseng, UTA’s first hire under its Recruiting Innovative Scholars for Excellence initiative, or RISE 100, adds this award to an already illustrious list of accomplishments. He has decades of experience in the automotive industry and more than 100 U.S. patents to his name, about a third of which have been implemented in Ford vehicles. He has helped develop vehicle technology that has improved self-driving capabilities and reduced the chances of rollover accidents.

He is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). Membership in NAE—which honors professionals who have made outstanding and innovative contributions to the research, practice, education or advancement of engineering—is among the highest professional distinctions awarded in the field.

Formal presentation of the 2024 ASME Soichiro Honda Medal will take place on Aug. 27 during the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference in Washington, D.C.

“With the rapid growth of automation, it is increasingly critical for controllers to monitor and understand both the system's status and its surrounding environment, detect faults, make informed and explainable decisions, and interact appropriately with people,” Tseng said. “I am eager to continue making meaningful contributions in this field.”