Aleksandar Kavčić (; born 1968 in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

) is a

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

n electrical engineer, university professor and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

who is currently active as an

Adjunct Professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

at the

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

since 2017 and as a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

Biography

He studied at the prestigious

Mathematical Grammar School Mathematical Grammar School (, abbr. "MG" or "MGB"), is a special school for Intellectual giftedness, gifted and talented students of mathematics, physics and Informatics (academic field), informatics located in Belgrade, Serbia. The School has ...

and University of Belgrade School of Electrical Engineering. After completing his studies, Kavčić moved abroad due to the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

which took place in former Yugoslavia. Prior to 2017, Kavčić served as assistant professor, associate professor and professor of electrical engineering at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and the University of Hawai'i at Manoa where he is presently Professor of Electrical Engineering. He also served as visiting associate professor at the

City University of Hong Kong The City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) is a public research university in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and formally established as the City University of Hong Kong in 1994 ...

in the Fall of 2005 and as visiting scholar at the

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...

in the Spring of 2006. In 2016, the Carnegie Mellon University won a lawsuit against the

Marvell Technology Group Marvell Technology, Inc. is an American company, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, which develops and produces semiconductors and related technology. Founded in 1995, the company had more than 6,500 employees as of 2024, with over 10,000 ...

for infringing intellectual property of Kavčić and his mentor Jose Moura, gaining a settlement of US$750,000,000. He is the founder of "Alek Kavčić Foundation" which has the goal to provide high-quality textbooks available for free download for all elementary school students in Serbia. Over the years, he donated new computers to a number of high schools in Serbia. Kavčić resides in

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and

Political career

In the 2020 Serbian parliamentary elections, he was a candidate for MP on the electoral list of the Enough is Enough (DJB) party, and Kavčić was presented as the president of the party education board. The party failed to pass the electoral threshold, and Kavčić decided to leave the party.

Selected works

*''The Viterbi algorithm and Markov noise memory'', co-author, 2000 *''Binary intersymbol interference channels: Gallager codes, density evolution, and code performance bounds'', co-author, 2003 *''Equal-diagonal QR decomposition and its application to precoder design for successive-cancellation detection'', co-author, 2005 *''Simulation-based computation of information rates for channels with memory'', co-author, 2006 *''The feasibility of magnetic recording at 10 terabits per square inch on conventional media'', co-author, 2009

References

External links

An interview with Kavčić
1968 births People from Belgrade Ruhr University Bochum alumni Living people 21st-century Serbian engineers Electrical engineers Serbian academics Carnegie Mellon University faculty University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty Harvard University faculty Enough is Enough (party) politicians {{Serbia-academic-bio-stub