Jelena Kovačević is a Serbian American engineering professor at the

New York University Tandon School of Engineering The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United St ...

. She served as dean of the school from 2018-2024.

Education

Kovačević received her Engineering Diploma Degree in electrical engineering from the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

and her MS and PhD from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, under doctoral advisor

Martin Vetterli Martin Vetterli is a professor of engineering of École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, and was the former president of EPFL between 2017 and 2024. He was also formerly the president of the National Research Council ...

, with whom she later co-authored multiple books on signal processing and wavelet theory.

Career

Kovačević became head of NYU Tandon School of Engineering in 2018, the first woman to do so in the school's 164-year history. At the end of her five-year term in May 2023, she announced she would be stepping down on August 31, 2024. Kovačević is an elected fellow of the IEEE and EURASIP. She is a recipient of the "Belgrade October Prize," the "E.I. Jury Award" from Columbia University, the "CIT Philip L. Dowd Fellowship Award" from Carnegie Mellon University, the IEEE Signal Processing Society Technical Achievement Award in 2016, and the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBS) Career Achievement Award in 2022.

Family

Jelena Kovačević was born to Margita Kovačević and Živorad Kovačević, the latter of whom was a Yugoslav politician, diplomat, and academic, who was the 60th

Mayor of Belgrade The mayor of Belgrade () is the head of the City of Belgrade (the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia). The mayor acts on behalf of the city, and performs an Executive (government), executive function in th ...

in 1974-1982 and Yugoslavia's Ambassador to the United States in 1987-1989, when he was recalled after his disapproval of Slobodan Milosević's regime.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovacevic, Jelena Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Belgrade alumni Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Carnegie Mellon University faculty New York University faculty Serbian women engineers 21st-century Serbian engineers Serbian emigrants to the United States 21st-century American engineers 21st-century American women engineers