Different Strategies for Preparing Students to Tackle the RF Engineering Challenges of Tomorrow: a Panel Discussion

The trend is clear, technology innovations will increase at even faster rates in the future. This has been particularly true in communications as RF technology becomes ubiquitous in daily life. The IoT explosion and 5G revolution are driving increased demand for RF engineers posing a challenge to how schools keep up with that demand, and best prepare the next generation of RF engineers. This session will be a panel discussion bringing together voices from multiple universities sharing how they are each innovating their RF curriculum and helping prepare engineering students ready to tackle tomorrow’s RF challenges. More specifically, we will learn about how the University of Arizona, the University of Notre Dame, Pennsylvania State University, the University of South Florida, and Georgia Institute of Technology are taking advantage of partnerships with industry to accelerate their impact. Each of these schools have their students demonstrate RF technical knowledge, design expertise, and hands-on measurement proficiency in the use of Keysight EEsof EDA software design tools and Keysight instruments. Students can complete qualification as Keysight Technologies, Inc RF and Microwave Industry-Ready Students demonstrating immediate value to prospective employers while confirming each university’s commitment to preparing students for future industry contribution. The program utilizes an industry workflow environment providing a comprehensive way to simulate, measure and analyze communications components and systems. The panel, moderated by Keysight Technologies, will highlight what strategies each of these universities have adopted leveraging Keysight’s RF and Microwave Industry-Ready Student Certification Program to develop RF industry-ready engineers. These include partnering with other third-party companies, use of particular resources, etc. Attendees will be inspired with ideas of what they too might be able to leverage to help prepare the next generation of RF engineers to start contributing to the abundant RF technology opportunities. Speakers: moderator and panelists Erica Messinger, Director Worldwide University Program, Keysight Technologies Erica Messinger is the Keysight Technologies Director Worldwide University Program providing strategic vision and leadership for the company’s multi-tiered engagements with Universities and Academic/Research Institutions. Ms. Messinger has been with Hewlett Packard/Agilent Technologies/Keysight Technologies for 19 years holding various roles in sales channel management, business development, applications engineering, product support, and program management. She currently serves on the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association Corporate Advisory Council, as the Treasurer/Secretary for the American Society for Engineering Education Corporate Member Council, and as a long-time member of the Society of Women Engineers Corporate Partnership Council. She has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an M.B.A. from the University of Colorado. Dr. Kathleen L. Melde, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Arizona Kathleen L. Melde, received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from UCLA. She worked in the Radar Systems Group at Hughes Electronics (now Raytheon) for 12 years developing antennas and transmit/receive (T/R) modules for airborne phased and active arrays. She is now a full professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Her current projects include tunable RF front ends for cognitive radio, on chip antennas, and antennas for wildlife tracking. She has over 100 publications and 5 U.S. patents. Dr. Melde is an IEEE Fellow and was University of Arizona College of Engineering Teaching Fellow in 2012. She is currently the director of Graduate Studies in ECE at the University of Arizona. Her teaching interests are in Antenna engineering, Microwave Engineering, and Electrical Packaging. Dr. Jonathan Chisum, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, University