Emily Sopensky Meritorious Service Award
This service award is given to members who have, exceptionally, served the council on RFID to advance its goals, mission, reaching out to the members, and enhancing the visibility of the Council within IEEE and globally. The winner will receive a plaque, certificate, and honorarium of $1000.00.
Emily Sopensky Biography: A business consultant, Emily Sopensky specialized in strategies for technology companies. After 20 years in Central Texas, she became the second IEEE-USA Fellow to the U.S. State Department in Washington, DC. Her technology focus was Internet and web development as well as radio frequency identification. From 1995, she worked with Texas Instruments on RFID and their burgeoning RFID product lines, beginning with intelligent transportation systems. After moving to the DC area, she co-founded a consortium dedicated to the use of wireless digital technology in healthcare in 2008. With the Intelligent Healthcare Association, she chaired the Awards program to recognize healthcare facilities and providers using these technologies to contain cost and improve patient safety. Ms. Sopensky, a Wharton MBA, received her technology training on the job and through IEEE. She led the formation of the IEEE Council on RFID in 2015 which became a permanent council of the IEEE in 2022. Sadly, she lost her battle with cancer in 2019.
Emily Sopensky Meritorious Service Award Winner
2026: Mark Roberti
Mark Roberti is best known as the founder and former editor of RFID Journal. In 2002, he launched the journal online out of a spare bedroom in his home with $500 in startup capital. He built it into a global brand that has been the go-to source for news, case studies, and other information about radio frequency identification (RFID) and other Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for two decades.In 2003, he launched RFID Journal LIVE!, which became the world’s largest conference and exhibition focused on these technologies. RFID Journal also ran an event in Europe for many years and has held conferences in Abu Dhabi, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dubai
2025: George Xiao, Ph.D
George Xiao is a Principal Research Officer at the National Research Council Canada (NRC), where his work focuses on printed electronics and wireless technologies. His current research includes printed antennas, 5G and IoT solutions for precision farming, and stretchable and superflexible conductive and dielectric inks. He is also developing low-loss dielectric inks with both low and high dielectric constants. Dr. Xiao received his PhD from Loughborough University in the UK. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Engineering Institute of Canada (2023), and the Canadian Academy of Engineering (2024). His work has earned national and international recognition. In 2022, he received an R&D
The purpose of the IEEE Council on Radiofrequency Identification (CRFID) James Clerk Maxwell Best Journal Paper Award is to promote and recognize on a yearly basis an outstanding scientific paper published in the IEEE Journal of RFID in the two preceding calendar years.
The award is based on originality, impact, relevance to the CRFID Community, and quality of writing/presentation. It consists of $1,000 per award (split equally among authors) and a certificate for each winning (co)-author of the winning paper.
This award is named after James Clerk Maxwell to honor his pivotal role in the field of electromagnetic propagation, which is the foundation on which Radiofrequency Identification technology is based.
James Clerk Maxwell Best Paper Award Winner
2026 IEEE CRFID James Clerk Maxwell Best Journal Paper Award
Enhancing RFID Antenna Electromagnetic Fingerprints Through Non-Linear Interrogation Authors: Francesca M. C. Nanni and Gaetano Marrocco, Tor Vergata University of Rome
IEEE CRFID James Clerk Maxwell Best Journal Paper Award 2025
The IEEE Council of RFID and the IEEE Journal of Radio Frequency Identification editorial board are pleased to announce the winner of the IEEE CRFID James Clerk Maxwell Best Journal Paper Award 2025. The paper was awarded after a careful evaluation involving the editorial board. The awarding ceremony was held in Valence, during IEEE RFID-TA 2025. Congratulations to: A. Vena, B. Sorli University of Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier, France S. Cahuzac University of Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier, Bonetag Company, Perpignan, France S. Dutrieux, S. Naudi Bonetag Company, Perpignan, France for their paper: Implant-Based UHF RFID-Enabled Sensor to Detect Loosening of Knee Prosthesis Link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10186456
