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J A M E S H E N R Y M U L L I G A N, J R.
1920–1996
Elected in 1974
“For contributions to electrical network theory
and to system theory and applications.”
BY WILLIAM W. LANG
JAMES HENRY MULLIGAN, JR., the second Secretary of the
National Academy of Engineering and its first Executive Officer,
died on January 12, 1996, in his 75th year. With his broad range
of interests, Jim had a distinguished career of service to the
electrical engineering profession that spanned more than a half
century as teacher, mentor, and technical leader.
Jim was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, on October 29, 1920.
He received BEE (1943) and EE (1947) degrees from Cooper
Union School of Engineering, an M.S. degree in electrical
engineering in 1945 from Stevens Institute of Technology, and
a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering in 1948 from Columbia
University. He subsequently pursued postdoctoral studies in
mathematics and physics at Columbia University and New
York University. His career included major engineering
responsibilities in industrial, government, academic, and
professional organizations.
Jim’s first employment was as a member of the technical staff
in the transmission development department of the Bell
Telephone Laboratories and later as a member of the Combined
Research Group of the Naval Research Laboratory contributing
to the development of the Mark V radar IFF (Identify Friend or
Foe) system. At the conclusion of World War II, he joined the
Allen B. DuMont Laboratories where he was initially concerned
with research and development on portable and studio television
167
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168 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
camera and video equipment and subsequently was chief
engineer of the television transmitter division. From 1949 to
1968, he was a member of the faculty of the Department of
Electrical Engineering at New York University, serving as
chairman of the department from 1952 to 1968.
His research centered on the design methodologies for
electronic circuits and the development of analytical methods
which underlie them. He worked on the design of electrical
systems with lumped elements and distributed elements in
combination that established the foundation for the design of
analog electronic circuits with prescribed performance
characteristics in many different applications. This methodology
was responsible for state-of-the-art improvements in radar,
television, and IFF systems. He also researched the systematic
assessment of the quality of computer-aided designs for VLSI
(Very Large Scale Integration) integrated circuits. For his
technical contributions and his leadership of professional
engineering societies, he was elected a member of the NAE in
1974.
In 1968, Jim moved to Washington to join the NAE as a full-
time member of the staff in the position of secretary, succeeding
Harold Work who had been the secretary from its founding in
1964. In 1958 Work, then associate dean of New York University’s
College of Engineering, proposed the very first concept that lead
to the founding of the National Academy of Engineering, but it
wasn’t until December 5, 1964, that the new Academy was born.
Work became its first secretary. The decade following NAE’s
founding has been described in the “The Making of the NAE
— The First 25 Years” as a decade of turmoil. As its secretary
during the latter part of this decade, Jim was a witness to this
turbulent era during which there were several reorganizations
as the NAE struggled for autonomy within the National
Academies’ complex. The NAE Council recognized Jim’s talents
and effectiveness by appointing him the first NAE Executive
Officer in 1968. By 1974, four presidents had occupied the office
(Augustus Kinzel, Eric Walker, Clarence Linder, and Robert
Seamans); and an acting NAE president (William Shoupp) was
in the office as a search committee sought a replacement for
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JAMES HENRY MULLIGAN, JR. 169
Seamans. Quoting from the above publication, “Not only would
it be difficult to replace a man of Seamans’ extraordinary
qualifications and do it rapidly, but as James H. Mulligan, Jr.,
then Executive Officer of NAE noted, the position required
someone who could deal comfortably with the multiple
constituencies of industry, government, and academia
represented by the Academy membership.”
One of the unwritten principles of the NAE president and
Executive Council was that no staff member should be elected
to membership in the Academy. Harold Work, Jim’s predecessor
as secretary, played an important role in the formation of the
Academy, became its first secretary, but was never elected to
membership. Nonetheless, a small group of NAE members who
were either serving on the NAE Council at the time or had
served on it earlier, led by J. Ross Macdonald, recognized Jim’s
many professional accomplishments and successfully proposed
him for NAE membership. Jim was the only NAE staff member
who was not an NAE member at time of appointment ever to be
elected to membership in the NAE.
Jim’s participation in the activities of the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and its predecessors, the
American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) and the
Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE), extended throughout his
professional career. In the late 1940s and the 1950s, he served
as a section officer as well as a member or chairman of numerous
technical committees. In the early 1960s, he was active in IRE
technical activities, notably those dealing with circuit theory,
and carried these volunteer activities into the merged
organization, the IEEE, formed from the AIEE and the IRE in
1963. He served as vice president for IEEE technical activities
in 1968 and 1969, was elected IEEE vice president in 1970, and
served during 1971 as IEEE president. Jim is recognized within
the IEEE as having been the principal architect for the
organizational structure of technical activities within the
institute. He was instrumental in changing the composition of
the IEEE board of directors so that each technical specialty within
the IEEE was properly represented on its board. After his
presidency, he became the IEEE vice president responsible for
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170 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
regional affairs in which role he worked diligently during the
latter part of the decade of the 1970s to improve the regional
structure of the IEEE membership.
In 1974, Jim left Washington to become the dean of the School
of Engineering and professor of electrical engineering at the
University of California, Irvine. During his first years in
California, Jim continued to serve as secretary of the NAE on
a part-time basis until 1978.
When he completed his term as dean in 1977, he continued
as a professor in electrical engineering until his retirement from
UC Irvine in 1991. He specialized in circuit theory and in
designing and implementing courses in VLSI with
responsibilities for the curriculum in this area. Jim was noted
in his UC Irvine biography as being a “tough and thorough
taskmaster demanding high performance and exacting
perfection.” From his students he demanded professional
assistance, and immediate response from his staff. Although
he was serious and formal with regard to his academic and
professional activities, he loved people and enjoyed entertaining
them in his home. He had a large blue automobile which aged
into an unsightly “blue bomb,” the paint faded and peeling
with evidence of many scrapes. He delighted in driving his
bomb to exclusive restaurants in his neighborhood and
requesting valet parking.
During his career Jim received many honors. In addition to
membership in the NAE, he was elected to the American
Association for the Advancement of Science. He was a fellow
of the IEEE and the IEE (London). He was the recipient of many
prestigious awards: the 1974 IEEE Haraden-Pratt Award; the
1978 Professional Achievement Award of the IEEE United States
Activities Board; the 1984 UC, Irvine, Lauds and Laurels award
for professional achievement; the 1986 Distinguished Service
Award of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society; the 1986
Meritorious Service Award of the IEEE Education Society; the
1987 Linton E. Grinter distinguished service award of the
Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology; the 1988
ABET Fellow Award of the Accreditation Board for Engineering
and Technology; and the 1988 Benjamin Garver Lamme award
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JAMES HENRY MULLIGAN, JR. 171
of the American Society for Engineering Education.
He also received several prize paper awards from the AIEE and
the IEEE.
The IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr., Education Medal was
established in 1956 by the AIEE and continued by the IEEE
board of directors to honor the past IEEE president. Presented
annually for an exemplary career in education, the medal
recognizes the importance of the educator’s contributions to
the vitality, imagination, and leadership of the members of the
electrical engineering profession.
Jim was married to Jeanne, his wife of 49 years, and is
survived by their two sons, James III and Richard.
Those who had the privilege of knowing Jim Mulligan will
remember him as a warm person and a hard-driving team leader
who accomplished much to shape the professional organizations
in which he was an active participant and driver. His
accomplishments are an inspiration to future generations of
electrical engineers.
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