Richard True

Richard True was born in Massachusetts in 1943. He received the Sc.B. in Electrical Engineering from Brown University in 1966, and the M.S. in Microwave Engineering (1968) and Ph.D. in Electrophysics (1972) from the University of Connecticut. Prior to graduate school he worked for Raytheon Submarine Signal Division in Portsmouth, RI. Following graduate school he worked for Microwave Associates in Burlington, MA. In 1974, he joined Litton Systems, Electron Devices Division (EDD) in San Carlos, CA. Litton EDD became part of Northrop Grumman in 2000, and in 2002, Electron Devices was bought by L-3 Communications. Dr. True has been Chief Scientist since 1991.

First in graduate school and then in industry, Dr. True has been a pioneer in the creation of advanced software and theoretical methods for the design of electron and ion beam devices. Specifically, he authored the world’s first finite element beam dynamics code (DEMEOS). He also invented a simple but profound theory for the design of gridded guns and the focussing of nonlaminar beams. Over the years he has utilized this work to design the guns, focussing systems, and collectors in most of the TWTs and klystrons in major production at EDD. These devices are used in advanced microwave and millimeter wave radars, communication, ECM, missile, towed decoy, and UAV systems. Today many modern TWTs are used in MPMs.

Dr. True has also contributed heavily to the IEEE. He was an elected member of EDS ADCOM from 1988-1994, Associate Editor of the Transactions on Electron Devices from 1986-1990, and an EDS Distinguished Lecturer from 1994-2002. He was EDS Vacuum Devices Chair from 1989-1997, and has been on the Vacuum Devices Technical Committee from 1998-present. He has also assumed leadership roles in various conferences. For example, he served as Technical Program Chair of the First IVEC in 2000, and was General Chairman of the third IVEC in 2002. Since then he has been a member of the IVEC Committee for each conference in the U.S. Finally, he has also served in various leadership and committee roles in the Microwave Power Tube Conference, the International Conference on Plasma Science, and the International Electron Devices Meeting.

He has also authored or co-authored 186 published papers, reports, and presentations (including 31 invited and 5 keynote papers) and one book chapter (Academic Press). He holds 17 U.S. Patents. In 1987 he won the EDS Paul Rappaport Best Paper Award.

Dr. True has received numerous other awards in recognization of his work. These include three major Corporate Awards granted in 1992, 1997 and 2001. In 2000 he received an IEEE Third Millennium Medal. In 2005 he was elected to the University of Connecticut Academy of Distinguished Engineers and Hall of Fame, and in 2002 to the Association of Old Crows Electronic Warfare Technology Hall of Fame. In 2006 he received an R&D 100 Award for MICHELLE (he was a member of the original development team), and in 1999 a Department of Defense Robert L. Woods Award for “Leadership in the Vacuum Electronics Community.” In 2010 he was honored to receive the prestigious IVEC Award for Excellence in Vacuum Electronics. He was elected IEEE Fellow in 1993, and became an IEEE Life Fellow in 2009.

Ivec Award for Excellence in Vacuum Electronics 2010

For the development of nonlaminar beam theory, gun and beam simulation software, and its application to the design of a wide range of electron beam devices including advanced microwave tubes.

Richard.True@L-3com.com