Dr. Dawson got his start in electronics as a hobbyist, ham radio operator, and tinkerer growing up in the 80s and 90s.  He went to MIT first for his formal training, earning a bachelor's degree (1996) and a master's degree (1997) in EE, and did his master's thesis research at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ.  He completed the Ph.D. degree in EE at Stanford University in 2003. In 2003 he co-founded Aspendos Communications, a fabless semiconductor company, before joining the MIT EECS faculty in 2004. In 2011, he co-founded  Eta Devices with three other partners to commercialize a new, high-efficiency radio architecture that was first developed in his research group at MIT. Based in Cambridge, MA and backed by Ray Stata's venture firm (Stata Venture Partners), the Eta Devices team is now comprised of 15 people.  For his work at MIT, Dr. Dawson received the NSF Career Award in 2008.  In 2009, he was selected for the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientist and Engineers (PECASE).