Ted Rappaport Returns to WNCG and the University of Texas

Ted Rappaport returned to his teaching and research job at the University of Texas, in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department this month after taking less than a year off to work with Motorola Inc., which acquired his company late in 2005. He returns as the William and Bettye Nowlin Chaired Professor of Engineering.

Rappaport, who founded WNCG at the University of Texas in 2002, took time off to help his software company, Wireless Valley Communications, integrate into Motorola after it was bought in December 2005.  

Asked about his first month back at UT,  Rappaport said, “I find myself extremely energized, being around our excellent students and colleagues. The future is very bright for wireless and for WNCG.”

Tony Ambler, head of UT's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said he expects Rappaport will be working with top officials at the university to improve the process of commercializing research work done at the school.

Rappaport was recruited to UT to bolster the school's stature in wireless research and to strengthen its ties to private industry, something Rappaport had done at Virginia Tech for 14 years before being recruited to Austin.

"He is just a dynamo," Ambler said. "We are happy to have him back."