In a heartfelt tribute to a beloved mentor, doctoral students who graduated from Marvin White’s electrical engineering lab in Lehigh’s P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science have established the Professor Marvin H. White ECE Experiential Learning Endowment Fund. Former students, colleagues, and friends celebrated this initiative recently at a special dinner, marking a significant milestone in honoring White’s impactful career in electrical engineering.
White, who joined Lehigh in 1981 as the Sherman Fairchild Professor in Electrical Engineering, has a storied history in the field, including a remarkable tenure at the Westinghouse Defense and Space Center from 1961 to 1981. His innovations, particularly the correlated double sampling technique, have influenced modern technology and are utilized in over six billion cameras worldwide, including the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. In recognition of his contributions, White received an Emmy at the 73rd Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards in 2022.
The endowment, spearheaded by White’s former doctoral students Philip Wong ’88Ph.D., Chen-Chung Chao ’83G ’86Ph.D., and Vickram Vathulya ’97G ’99Ph.D., aims to provide students with opportunities to attend conferences and engage in experiential learning — an initiative White passionately supported during his teaching career. Many former students and friends contributed to the endowment as well.
“Some of us who graduated in the early years of Dr. White’s history with Lehigh, from the ’80s to the ’90s, wanted to celebrate his accomplishments while he is still active in academia,” Wong, a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University, says. “He was always supportive of his students attending conferences and learning about things outside their academic research. We fondly remember the conferences we attended with Professor White and wanted to offer these opportunities to future students.”
White's impact extended beyond academia; he was known for treating his students like family. He and his wife, Sophia, welcomed international students to their home for Thanksgiving, making sure no one felt alone during the holidays, and had get-togethers in their backyard with students and professors.
“I think the students thought we were doing something for them,” White says, “but it was really for us. I think a lab works best when students work together, not just in the building but outside school as well. And they really got to know one another.”
White expressed his gratitude for the honor. “It’s unusual for so many students from different years to come together like this,” he notes. “It shows the lasting connections we’ve built.”
The event drew attendees from various graduating classes and from as far away as Taiwan, creating a poignant reminder of White’s enduring legacy. “We all felt the impact of his mentorship,” Wong recalls. “It’s incredible to see how he’s inspired generations of engineers.”
As the endowment kicks off, White’s legacy will continue to thrive at Lehigh, enabling future students to benefit from the same opportunities that shaped his remarkable career and those of his students.
