RAYMOND — Eric Fossum, PhD, has been awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award upon nomination by the Pine Tree Council and the Boy Scouts of America. The award is granted to Eagle Scouts who, after 25 years, have distinguished themselves in their life work and who have shared their talents with their communities on a voluntary basis.
Fossum has distinguished himself through his career as an engineer and inventor and through his continued service to God, his country and other people by following the principles of the Scout Oath and Scout Law. He has met community service needs through his voluntary actions.
Fossum, born and raised in Connecticut, received a PhD in engineering from Yale University. He is best known for the invention of the CMOS image sensor “camera-on-a-chip” used in billions of cameras, from smart phones to web cameras to pill cameras and many other applications.
In 1990, Fossum joined the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, and managed their image sensor and focal-plane technology research and advanced development. During this time, he invented the camera-on-a-chip technology (aka CMOS image sensor) and led its development and subsequent transfer of the technology to U.S. industry.
An early version of his image and camera are on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History’s Inventing in America exhibit. Fossum has received numerous awards for his work, including being inducted as a Queen Elizabeth Prize Laureate, the highest global honor for engineering, England’s version of the Nobel Prize.
Eric Tarbox, CEO/Scout executive of Pine Tree Council, said, “He exemplifies the ideals of Scouting and is a role model to all youth. We will honor Dr. Fossum with the prestigious Distinguished Eagle Scout Award at a campfire ceremony during our first ‘Enabled Scouts’ week, which will give Scouts with physical and learning disabilities the opportunity to experience a week of camp at their own pace.”
The National Eagle Scout Association Committee, under the direction of Alumni Relations at the Boy Scouts of America’s national office, selects the recipients of the award. The members of the selection committee are all recipients of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. Since 1969, more than 1,850 nominations have been approved.
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