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, and the
Institute of Medicine. In 2002, Carlson was awarded Worcester Polytechnic Institute's
Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement due to his contributions to science, technology, and business. Carlson has been involved in establishing WPI's
Silicon Valley Project Center. He has given several
commencement speeches, including at WPI on May 20, 2006; at Stevens Institute of Technology on May 22, 2008; at the Malaysian Technical University, at Shantou University in China, at Menlo College in California, and at the
University of Richmond on May 8, 2011. For his role in advancing the functional performance and image quality of information displays, Carlson received the
Otto H. Schade Award from the
Society for Information Display in June 2006. Carlson has received honorary degrees from Worcester Polytechnic Institute,
Stevens Institute of Technology and
Kettering University. Carlson is a member of the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
Sigma Xi,
Tau Beta Pi, and the
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering team that made recommendations to the National Science Foundation on the use of global value creation best practices. With Len Polizzotto he has worked with the NSF to help implement the NAE recommendations and has provided NSF a Value-Creation Guidebook on their application. ==Selected publications==