Designer in the area of print and image quality whose work has been the foundation for industry-leading products, Ernst became an IBM Fellow in 2005 — the highest honor a scientist, engineer, or programmer at IBM can achieve. He led the strategic definition and implementation of critical technologies for the Printing Systems Division of the IBM Personal Systems Group, Boulder, Colorado.
An IBM Master Inventor with many key inventions to his credit, Ernst holds numerous patents including: Correction of Print Engine Artifacts Using an Iterative Halftoning Search Algorithm; High Speed Dual Pass Ink Jet Printer; and Printer Calibration for Printers with Fixed Print Head Array Structures. He was also named the recipient of the 2011 IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award.