Robert Dennard, alumnus of the Lyle School of Engineering, is set to receive engineering’s highest honor for his contributions to the computing world.

The Charles Stark Draper Prize, a $500,000 annual award that is handed out by the National Academy of Engineering to honor engineers who have greatly benefited society, will be given to Dennard at a gala dinner in Washington D.C. on Feb. 17.

Dennard developed the Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) that is now used universally in computers and other data processing systems.

DRAM is a form of computer memory that puts bits of data into capacitors-energy storage devices within a miniaturized electronic circuit-and periodically recharges the capacitors so that information in them is not lost.

Dennard’s invention was revolutionary because of its vast size improvement over its predecessor. The DRAM uses a one-transistor system, which is much smaller and more efficient than the previous six-transistor cell that was in use at the time.

The DRAM cell’s cheapness and efficiency paved the way to make computing cheaper and faster. The DRAM market is estimated to have totaled $420 billion in sales through 2008.

Dennard received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from SMU and a Ph. D from Carnegie Mellon University in 1958. He spent his entire professional career with technology leader IBM and was appointed to the position of IBM fellow in 1979. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1984.