University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Grainger College of Engineering
Electrical & Computer Engineering

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Back To: Rao's Faculty Bio

N. Narayana Rao

Rao and Zuccarino

N. Narayana Rao, the Edward C. Jordan Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, presents the new edition of his “Elements of Engineering Electromagnetics” to his old student Tony Zuccarino. Former ECE head and engineering dean William L. Everitt—who came to Illinois in 1944, bringing Jordan along with him—is pictured behind them on Rao’s office wall.

A teacher and his texts pass the torch of knowledge
(Ingenuity Volume 9, Number 3, November 2004)

Of all the textbooks written by ECE faculty over the years, Professor N. Narayana Rao’s “Elements of Engineering Electromagnetics” may be the most successful. But the textbook is just one aspect of Rao’s teaching, which has been recognized with more than a dozen major honors and awards in the course of his 40-year career.

ECE alumnus Tony Zuccarino (BSEE ’83) took ECE 450 (Lines, Fields, and Waves) with Rao and recalls lectures and handwritten notes that clearly conveyed the concepts under study and that would be incorporated into later editions of the textbook. “We didn’t memorize things, we learned them,” said Zuccarino.

Zuccarino attributes his career success to the good teachers he had in ECE. Professor Ed Davidson (now emeritus at the University of Michigan) taught a course on microarchitecture that allowed Zuccarino to begin designing computers for radar systems on his first day as an engineer with Hughes Aircraft. “What has stayed with me from Rao’s class,” added Zuccarino, “is how to best convey knowledge to another party.” Now an entrepreneur with several startups under his belt and a keen eye peeled for the next, Zuccarino values that ability to communicate. He also credits ECE lecturer Ricardo Uribe as one of the outstanding influences during his undergraduate days.

Zuccarino is giving back to his alma mater by helping U of I raise its profile on the west coast, where he lives. He visited UIUC in September to discuss opportunities for commercializing ECE technologies (see photo).

Said Rao of his approach to teaching and writing: “I try to put myself in the student’s position, and then I explain it to myself.”


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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Grainger College of Engineering
Electrical & Computer Engineering

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