Texas Tech University

Distinguished Engineer Citations

                 
Distinguished Engineer Photo: William Guion, Ph.D.
William Guion, Ph.D.

William Guion, Ph.D.

Distinguished Engineer

2011

Degree

B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Electrical Engineering – 1966, 1968, 1970

 

Citation

At Time of Nomination in 2011

Dr. William G. Guion is a vice president with Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, Texas, where he is responsible for the operation of the Signal Exploitation and Geolocation Division. The institute is a non-profit research and development organization with a staff of approximately 3,000 and annual revenues more than of one-half billion dollars.

Guion was born in South Carolina but moved to Dallas the summer before entering the first grade. While in high school in Dallas, he found that the subjects he liked and excelled in were mathematics and science. He also had a desire to know how things worked. These two interests propelled him toward the engineering profession. Upon graduation from Highland Park High School he enrolled in what was then Texas Technological College. After receiving a bachelor of science in electrical engineering in 1966 from the recently renamed Texas Tech University, he enrolled in the Graduate School and worked under Dr. John Craig to design, build, test, and use the first laser constructed at Texas Tech. He was awarded a master of science in electrical engineering in 1968 and continued his graduate studies under Dr. David Ferry, studying microwave emissions from bulk semiconductors. Guion received a doctor of philosophy in 1970 with a major in electrical engineering and a minor in mathematics. His published work on these topics appeared in Proceedings of the IEEE, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Bulletin of the American Physical Society, and Applied Physics Letters.

Following his graduation from Texas Tech, he took a position as a Senior Research Engineer at SwRI. He focused his efforts on the fields of radio direction finding, antennas, radiolocation techniques, communication signal acquisition, modulation recognition, and RF signal propagation. Guion is a co-inventor on four patents in these areas. He progressed through positions of ever increasing responsibility and authority to his current position of vice president of the Signal Exploitation and Geolocation Division. His division performs project work in the signals intelligence area for commercial firms and the U.S. government, and also for approved foreign companies and governments. Guion's division oversees nationally recognized programs in radio direction finding, radiolocation, spectrum surveillance, and advanced geolocation techniques.

A long time supporter of Texas Tech, Guion has been a member of the Alumni Association Century Club since the 1970s, served on the Electrical Engineering Industrial Advisory Board from 1981 to 1985 (chairman for the 1984-1985 year) and on the Electrical and Computer Engineering Industrial Advisory Board from 2002 to 2008 (chairman for the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 years), helped start (and was first president of) the Texas Tech Electrical Engineering Association, provided significant support in San Antonio during the Horizon Campaign, and was inducted into the Electrical Engineering Academy in 1997. He is highly involved in his church of more than 5,000 members, and has served in and chaired almost every lay position in the church. He has also served as a representative to the denomination's annual church conferences. Additionally, Guion is on the Trinity University Engineering Sciences Board of Advisors and is a member of the following professional organizations: The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Sigma Xi The Scientific Research Society, Tau Beta Pi, Phi Eta Sigma, The American Physical Society, and The Association of Old Crows.

Guion is a member of the Texas Tech Whitacre College of Engineering Dean's Council.

He is greatly blessed to have been married to Freda Thompson Guion, also a Texas Tech graduate, for 47 years, and has daughters Susan, Catherine, and Rebecca, and eight grandchildren.

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