Józef Modelski was born in 1949 in Poland. He received M.Sc. in 1973, Ph.D. in 1978 and D.Sc. in 1987 , respectively, all in electronics, at the Warsaw University of Technology. He received State Professor's title in technical sciences in 1994.

Since 1973 Professor Modelski has been with the Institute of Radioelectronics, Warsaw University of Technology, holding in sequence all academic positions from teaching/research assistant to tenured professor. Since 1996 he has been Director of the Institute. In 1976/77 he spent one year in the USA as a Fulbright grantee. In 1986 for two years he joined the Braunschweig Technical University as a senior scientist.

His research interests include the area of: microwave modulators and shifters with semiconductor and ferrite elements, dielectric resonators and their applications, ferroelectric and smart antennas for communication systems. He is the author of 4 monographs, over 250 technical papers. He acts as a consultant to industry and Polish government agencies.

J. Modelski has been Senior Member of IEEE since 1990 and Fellow Member since 2001, a Member of MTT-S, AP-S and AES-S. Member of AdCom MTT since 2000, a member of Technical Committees MTT-17 and MTT-20. He was elected 2007 MTT-S President-Elect.

He has been a member of the TPCs of MTT-S International Microwave Symposium and the European Microwave Conference since 1996; since 1995 he has been Chair of the International Conference on Microwaves, Radar and Wireless Communications MIKON. He is a member of numerous local conferences in Europe.

He received many distinctions in Poland, including Awards of the Minister of National Education and the Minister of Science, he was also the recipient of IEEE Third Millennium Medal and the Walter Cox Award.