Frans M J Willems

Frans M. J. Willems (born 1954) is a Dutch information theorist and professor emeritus at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He is best known for his contributions to multi-user information theory, lossless compression, data-embedding, and biometrics.

Life and career Willems was born in Stein, the Netherlands, in 1954. He studied electrical engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, and received his master's degree in 1979. He completed his doctoral studies at the KU Leuven, Belgium, in 1982, under the supervision of Edward van der Meulen. He then joined the Electrical Engineering Department of TU/e, where he is currently a Full Professor (emeritus). 2005: IEEE Fellow 2011: IEEE Signal Processing Society Best Paper Award 2014: Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Information Theory Society for the 2014-2015 term 2025: IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal 2026: IEEE Claude E. Shannon Award