Goldsmith, the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, helped shape today’s mobile technology and laid ground rules for cellular and Wi-Fi network performance. Her foundational approaches to increasing the capacity, speed and range of wireless systems have become bedrock for managing the dynamic conditions of modern networks.

Goldsmith previously cofounded and served as chief technology officer for Plume WiFi, which sells in-home Wi-Fi mesh networks, and Quantenna Communications, a chip maker that was acquired by ON Semiconductor Corp. for around $1 billion in 2019.

She currently serves on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). PCAST is the sole body of advisers from outside the federal government charged with making science, technology and innovation policy recommendations to the president and the White House.

Goldsmith has been widely recognized for her work making science and engineering more diverse and inclusive in both academic and industry settings. She founded and chairs the Board of Directors committee on enhancing diversity and inclusion in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and she led an initiative at Stanford University aimed at improving recruitment, retention and support of women and diverse faculty members. She has also established awards in ACM and the IEEE to recognize outstanding accomplishments of early-career women. As dean of engineering at Princeton, Goldsmith has pursued a bold vision for growth, innovation and inclusion that aims to increase the impact of the school on the most challenging issues facing humanity.

“In an uncertain world, one thing is certain – engineering skills, vision and leadership will play a crucial part in addressing the escalating domestic and global challenges that we face today,” said Jim McDonald, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, in a statement. “The combined connectivity, professionalism, experience and wisdom of the new Fellows who join us today will greatly enrich the expertise and support we can provide to the government and to society in general.”

Goldsmith received her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering at the University of California-Berkeley. Between her bachelor’s and master’s degree she worked in defense communications in Silicon Valley. She began her academic career at the California Institute of Technology before joining the Stanford faculty in 1999. She was named Stanford’s Stephen Harris Professor of Engineering in 2012, and is now Harris Professor, Emerita. Goldsmith joined the Princeton faculty in 2020.

She is the recipient of the 2022 SIGMOBILE Outstanding Contributions Award from the mobile systems branch of the Association of Computing Machinery. In 2020, she became the first woman to win the Marconi Prize, considered the top honor in telecommunications. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Arts and Sciences, an author or coauthor of four books on wireless communications and an inventor on 29 patents.

The Royal Academy of Engineering harnesses the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. Its Fellowship was formed in 1976 and now comprises 1,633 Fellows, including Emeritus, International and Honorary.