News

USU professor receives governor's medal for science and technology

By Kevin Opsahl
The Herald Journal
January 21, 2011

Paul Israelsen is the deputy director of the Energy Dynamics Laboratory at USU's Innovation Campus. (Jennifer Meyers/Herald Journal)

An associate professor at Utah State University who also works for the Energy Dynamics Laboratory has received the Governor's Medal for Science and Technology.

Deputy Director Paul Israelsen received the award in a ceremony at the state capitol in Salt Lake City along with seven other recipients for their individual achievements. Among them is W. Farrell Edwards, who helped establish the Space Dynamics Laboratory at USU.

The award, created in 1987, was bestowed by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and was given to Israelsen to recognize his solutions to the economic growth and the energy independence of Utah, a EDL press release said.

The citation that accompanied the award states that, "Paul's contributions will help place Utah at the forefront of transformational energy systems for the future," according to the press release.

"I was excited; it's kind of a humbling award," Israelsen told The Herald Journal, noting that his passion for science and engineering began when he would fix his mother's clocks growing up. "There have been a lot of people that have helped me and carried me along so I feel like it's as much their reward as it is mine. It's been exciting to do a number of things in the state and it's a really great recognition."

Israelsen came to Utah State University in 1985 and rose to become a research associate professor in the electrical and computer engineering department. He said one of his proudest accomplishments was starting up a Logan company called Sorenson Vision, Inc., a privately held maker of digital video compression tools.

"Out of that we developed some video telephones, we developed that technology that became one of the primary codecs in Apple Quicktime," Israelsen said, noting that the company later became Sorenson Media and Sorenson Communications, both based in Salt Lake City. "It's been exciting to watch that grow ... it's been great to not only work on the entrepreneurial side but also the technology development side as well."

Over the course of his career, Israelsen has employed more than 500 Utahns through multiple start-up companies he helped develop in the state. Israelsen has also been awarded 20 patents that have contributed to the development of digital television, signing services for the deaf and digital movies and photography.

Jeff Muhs, director of EDL, said in a press release that Israelsen's work in the area of digital file compression has impacted "nearly every person who uses audio or video files."

In 2009, Israelsen joined several other professionals to found the Energy Dynamics Laboratory at USU, which was created as an incubator for the start up of new businesses.

"I'm really excited about the work we're doing here," Israelsen said. "We've got about 50 employees now, and we're doing a lot of work in renewable energy and clean fossil energy."

Israelsen has helped bring in over $9 million in contracts to the Energy Dynamics Lab in 2010 and helped the lab start three new businesses: ALG>EN, Wave Technologies and Purestream.

© 2011 The Herald Journal