and a Ph.D. in geophysical fluid dynamics from Rutgers University in 1973. Career Sarnoff Corporation Starting in 1973, Carlson participated in research and development in the field of imaging systems, working with the RCA Sarnoff Laboratory. In 1981, Carlson was named the Director of the Image Quality and Perception Research Group and Vice President of the laboratory in 1990. In 1995, Carlson became Executive Vice President of Sarnoff's Interactive Systems Division. He started the 1997 team that developed the HDTV program that became the US standard. He also started the 2000 team that designed a system to assess broadcast image quality. Both of these teams were awarded a Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for their accomplishments. SRI International He served as the president of SRI International from 1998 to 2014, and oversaw Sarnoff Corporation's full integration into SRI in January 2011. During that period he was Chairman of the Sarnoff Corporation. Carlson is known for a term known as "Carlson's Law", coined by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman to describe Carlson's balance between autocracy and democracy in an organization: "In a world where so many people now have access to education and cheap tools of innovation, innovation that happens from the bottom up tends to be chaotic but smart. Innovation that happens from the top down tends to be orderly but dumb." Memberships and awards In 2017 Carlson was selected to be a member of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute's "Hall of Luminaries." This award has been given to only eleven previous individuals in the over 150-year history of the university. He is a WPI trustee emeritus. In December 2012, Carlson was named a Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. For his contributions to science, technology, and business, He also received the Suffolk University's first Global Leadership in Innovation and Collaboration Award. He is an honorary Kobe Ambassador for SRI's contributions to Kobe, Japan. In 2010, he was named to the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship under President Obama. Carlson has served on several government task forces including the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, the Army Science Board and the Defense Science Board task force on bio-chemical defense. He also serves on the National Academy of Engineering Committee on Manufacturing, Design, and Innovation, and is a council member on the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable, a joint body of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering,