Kevin Brennan, 46, distinguished professor and friend

	Brennan, left, with former doctoral student Yang Wang, at the Great Wall of China in 1993.

Jackie Nemeth
Electrical and Computer Engineering

When Kevin F. Brennan died at the age of 46 after a tough and determined three-year battle with pancreatic cancer, he left a legacy that will never fade. A professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), he set the bar high for what a faculty member can achieve, while retaining the respect, support, and camaraderie of his colleagues, practically all of whom he counted as friends.

Born October 18, 1956, in Elizabeth, N.J., Brennan received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1978 and his master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1980 and 1984, respectively.

Upon graduation, he joined Georgia Tech as an assistant professor in ECE. At Tech, Brennan was among the first faculty members chosen as Institute Fellows. In 2000, he was named the Byers Professor in Microelectronics.

Considered among the best of ECE’s classroom teachers, Brennan taught both graduate and undergraduate students with equal ease and enthusiasm. His influence is fondly remembered by his Ph.D. alumni.

“Kevin treated his graduate students as if they were his own offspring, and they in turn held him in the highest esteem,” said Russell Callen, an ECE professor and longtime friend. “He was an inspiration to everyone around him.”

Yang Wang and Nabil Mansour studied with Brennan in the early- to mid-1990s. “Kevin was an excellent teacher and also a good friend to all of us. He was not only intelligent, professional, and knowledgeable, but also patient and caring with his students,” said Wang. “His rigorous style in scientific research and optimistic attitude in life will benefit me forever.”

Mansour said, “Kevin’s interest in his students went beyond research and technical publications. He had unlimited support and always had words of encouragement for his students. Our success was his primary objective.”

Brennan specialized in in-depth theoretical analysis of semiconductor devices and materials at the submicron level and developed superlattice devices for electroluminescent displays, like those that glow on car dashboards, and infrared detectors, such as those used in night vision goggles. He also created computer simulations of high-speed, high-frequency transistors. His specialty was modeling wide-band gap semiconductors for future high-power, high-frequency, and high-thermal-resistance applications such as automobile and jet engines and power amplifiers for wireless communication systems.

Brennan served on several federal government defense strategy groups, primarily having to do with advancing the state of the art in military defense technologies while trying to reduce operation and support costs. “Kevin was a superb scientist,” said Robert J. Trew, former research director with the U.S. Defense Department (DoD) who now heads the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University. “I sought him out to work on some projects for the DoD. He was able to solve some very difficult and intricate problems and add new understanding as to how things functioned and operated.”

In 2002, Brennan received the ECE Distinguished Professor Award and the Georgia Tech Vice Provost for Research Special Recognition Award for Graduate Education and Research Scholarship. In 2003, he received the highest honor that a Georgia Tech faculty member can attain — the Class of 1934 Distinguished Professor Award.

“Kevin was truly a talented and dedicated professor,” said Roger Webb, chair of ECE. “Distinguished is an inadequate descriptor which does not capture the courage that enabled Kevin to remain an outstanding contributor to the very end.”

His interests outside of Tech were as multifaceted as he was — from various outdoor activities to reading American and scientific history. He joyfully shared his love of life with his students and colleagues alike. “It is a great privilege to have been a close friend of this outstanding and remarkable man,” Professor Callen said. “He was an accomplished researcher, a dedicated educator, an avid outdoorsman and a true friend.”

Brennan is survived by his wife and Georgia Tech employee, Lea McLees; his mother, Rita Brennan of Ocala, Fla.; his brother, Gregory Brennan of Brick, N.J.; and his mother-in-law, Norma J. McLees of Auburn, Ga.