Streaming video pioneer Al Bovik has been awarded the John Fritz Medal, one of the most storied and esteemed honors in engineering.

Bovik, a professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was recognized for “foundational contributions to the theoretical and engineering aspects of perceptual picture and video quality prediction, leading to systems that ensure optimized visual quality for hundreds of millions of viewers daily.”

“I am deeply honored to receive this award and be mentioned in the company of so many great engineers whose work continues to shape society today,” said Bovik.

Managed by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, the John Fritz Medal is presented each year for scientific or industrial achievement in any field of pure or applied science. It was first awarded in 1902 to Fritz, a pioneer of iron and steel technology. Previous recipients include Alfred Nobel, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Orville Wright, Guglielmo Marconi, Claude Elwood Shannon and many more.

Bovik's algorithms for perceptually optimized compression of streaming video helped enable the global adoption of streaming and have been used by streaming giants like Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube. The algorithms control the compression of videos as they are streamed, using theories of visual neuroscience to make them perceptually optimal — as visually appealing to the human eye as possible. These compression algorithms greatly reduce the bandwidth needed for streaming media, while increasing video quality and making it easier for people with slower internet connections to access content online.

Bovik joined The University of Texas at Austin in 1984, and he has since served as director of the Laboratory for Image and Video Engineering in the Cockrell School. He has published more than 1,000 papers in related fields, which have been cited more than 175,000 times in the open literature.

He has received numerous awards and accolades for his contributions in this field, including:

• Election to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering in 2022
• The 2022 Edison Medal from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
• A pair of Emmy Awards from the Academies of Television Arts and Sciences in 2021 and 2015
• The Progress Medal from the Royal Photographic Society in 2021