Dr. Kavita Goverdhanam
Electrical and Electronics Engineer, Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate, US Army CERDEC
Dr. Kavita Goverdhanam works at US Army CERDEC in the Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate. She has been extensively involved in R&D efforts to develop solutions that enable Communications in the presence of RF interfering Systems. Dr. Goverdhanam has over 15 years of experience in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Prior to joining the US army in 2010, she was with Industry with Raytheon Systems, Bell Laboratories – Lucent Technologies and RF Micro Devices. Dr. Goverdhanam received her doctorate degree from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI in 1999. Outside of her professional career, she is actively involved in STEM programs at high school and middle school levels as a volunteer and coach for several Robotics and Mathematics competitions. Supporting science and technology to improve quality of life is a lifelong passion for Dr. Goverdhanam.
Ms. Betsy B. DeLong
Electronics Engineer, Sensors and Network Research Division, Office of Naval Research (ONR)
Ms. Betsy B. DeLong leads the Integrated Topside (InTop) and Electromagnetic Maneuver Warfare (EMW) Command and Control (EMC2) Innovative Naval Prototypes (INPs) at ONR. The InTop INP is building a set of wideband multi-function prototypes to meet the myriad of radar, communication, and electronic warfare systems on Naval Platforms in a modular, scalable, open architecture approach and EMC2 develops the Command and Control for EMW to respond to changes in the electromagnetic environment & warfighter requirements across C4ISR and combat systems. Prior to joining ONR she was the Surface Technology (SURFTECH) Director at NAVSEA providing technical and management expertise to the SURFTECH stakeholders (the US Surface Fleet, Chief of Naval Operation’s Office and the Navy acquisition community) on Research and Development (R&D) and Science and Technology (S&T) issues for the Surface Navy. Her previous experience also includes running a Joint service Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) program, serving as the Navy’s Test and Evaluation (T&E) Coordinator for Modeling and Simulation (M&S) and as the Tactical Tomahawk Functional Area Lead for System Integration Equipment and Simulations. She has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and Naval Command & Staff diploma from the Naval War College. Her awards include three Department of the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Awards.
Dr. Stacy Beun
Research Mathematician, Tactical Electronic Warfare Division, US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)
Dr. Stacy Beun is a Research Mathematician within the Tactical Electronic Warfare Division at the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Dr. Beun’s research interests center on Bayesian Networks, data fusion, machine learning, and cognitive radar. She received her Ph.D. in Mathematics from North Carolina State University in 2008, focusing her doctoral research in the area of theoretical abstract algebra. Previously, Dr. Beun was an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Cabrini College in Pennsylvania. Since joining NRL, she directs basic research programs focused on the development of advanced capabilities for future Navy Electronic Warfare systems. Additionally, Dr. Beun serves as the Program Manager and Lead Developer of an airborne testbed for advanced radar processing.
Dr. Molly K. Crane
Technical Staff Member, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lincoln Laboratory
Dr. Molly K. Crane graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. degree in English and Comparative Literature from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts in 2004. After teaching high school English and mathematics for several years, she returned to school to study electrical engineering. In 2012, she earned her M.Eng. degree in electrical engineering from Boston University (BU) in Boston, Massachusetts and joined MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL) as an intern. She continued part-time work in systems analysis and modeling and simulation at MIT LL while pursuing doctoral studies focused on signal processing at BU. In 2015, she joined MIT LL full-time. She earned her Ph.D. in electrical engineering from BU in 2017.
Since 2015, Dr. Crane’s work has focused on advanced signal processing techniques in radar and imaging systems. Her areas of interest are in polarimetric signal processing, statistical signal processing/machine learning, and advanced algorithm development for cognitive sensing and electronic warfare. She is currently a technical staff member in the Advanced Concepts and Technologies Group of MIT LL’s Air, Missile, and Maritime Defense Technologies Division.
Dr. Zoya Popovic
Professor, University of Colorado Boulder
Dr. Zoya Popovic (S’86–M’90–SM’99–F’02) is a Distinguished Professor and the Lockheed Martin Endowed Chair of Electrical Engineering at the University of Colorado. She obtained her Dipl.Ing. degree at the University of Belgrade, Serbia, and her Ph.D. at Caltech. In 2001/03 and 2014, she was a Visiting Professor with the Technical University of Munich, Germany and ISAE in Toulouse, France, respectively. She has graduated 56 PhDs and currently advises 17 doctoral students in various areas of microwave engineering. She is a Fellow of the IEEE and the recipient of two IEEE MTT Microwave Prizes for best journal papers, the White House NSF Presidential Faculty Fellow award, the URSI Issac Koga Gold Medal, the ASEE/HP Terman Medal and the German Humboldt Research Award. She was elected as foreign member to the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2006. She was named IEEE MTT Distinguished Educator in 2013 and the University of Colorado Distinguished Research Lecturer in 2015. She has a husband physicist and three daughters who can all solder.
Dr. Katherine Herrick
Engineering Fellow, Raytheon
Dr. Katherine J. Herrick is currently Engineering Fellow at Raytheon Company. She joined Raytheon in January 2001 with a focus on advanced solid state research and program development in III-V device technology, high performance passive interconnects, 3D packaging, microwave circuit design, and integrated arrays. Since then she has held both Technical Director and Chief Engineer positions spanning strategic technology development through production across multiple Raytheon businesses. As an advocate for women in STEM fields, she is also President of the Advisory Board for Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) at The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
Dr. Herrick earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1994, 1996 and 2000, respectively. Her dissertation work focuses on integrated three-dimensional microwave circuits up to W-band, utilizing silicon micromachining.
Dr. Herrick’s key technical awards include 2008 Outstanding Young Engineer Award of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S), 2008 National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering, and 2007 Raytheon IDS President’s Award. Dr. Herrick is a Senior Member of IEEE, has published over 40 technical papers, and she holds several patents in the areas of antennas, RF MEMS packaging and microwave circuits.
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure that you do things differently from everyone else.” – Sara Blakely, Founder of Spanx
Dr. Wenquan Che
Professor, Nanjing University of Science and Technology
Dr. Wenquan Che (M’01–SM’11) received the B.S. degree and M. S. degree from the East China Institute of Science and Technology, and Nanjing University of Science and Technology (NUST), China, in 1990 and 1995 respectively, and the PhD degree from the City University of Hong Kong (CITYU), Hong Kong, China, in 2004. Dr. Che worked as a visiting scholar for half year in Polytechnique de Montreal, Canada, in 2002, and one Humboldt Fellow in Technische Universitat Munchen, Germany, in 2007-2008. Dr. Che was awarded Young Female Scientist of China in 2008, and Distinguished Young Scientist by NSFC of China in 2012. Dr. Che has authored or co-authored over 200 international journal papers and hold 7 Chinese patents. Her research interests include microwave/millimeter-wave circuits and subsystems, antenna technology and medical application of microwave technology.
Dr. Che currently serves as the Coordinator of Region 10 China, member of WIM, MGA Committee, and member of SIGMaWE, Education Committee, AdCom of IEEE MTT-S.
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “If you love life, life will love you back.”
Ms. Sherry Hess
Vice President of Marketing, AWR Group, National Instruments
Ms. Sherry Hess has been vice president of marketing for AWR Group, NI for nearly 10 years and has more than 20 years of EDA experience in domestic and international sales, marketing, support, and management. Prior to NI, Ms. Hess served in various positions at EDA software developer Ansoft Corporation (now ANSYS). She holds BSEE and MBA degrees from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
Dr. Lorene Samoska
Principal Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA
Dr. Lorene Samoska (M’95–SM’04) received the B.S. degree in Engineering Physics from the University of Illinois in 1989, and the Ph.D. degree in Materials Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1995. She worked as a post-doctoral researcher at UC Santa Barbara in the design and fabrication of state-of-the-art InP HBT microwave digital circuits. She joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1998, where she is currently a Principal Engineer involved in the design and testing of 30-600 GHz HEMT MMIC low noise amplifiers and receivers, and power amplifiers for local oscillator sources and transmitters in future space missions.
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “What would you do if you weren’t afraid to fail?”
Dr. Dimitra Psychogiou
Assistant Professor, University of Colorado Boulder
Dr. Dimitra Psychogiou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder (UC Boulder). Prior to UC Boulder, she was a Senior Research Scientist at the Adaptive Radio Electronics and Sensors (ARES) group of Purdue University. Dr. Psychogiou received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland for her research in waveguide-mounted RF-MEMS for multi-functional RF front-ends. Her current research focuses on the RF design and characterization of reconfigurable microwave and millimeter-wave passive components, RF-MEMS, acoustic wave resonator based filters, tunable filter synthesis and frequency-agile antennas. Furthermore, she has been serving as an Associate Editor for the IET Microwaves, Antennas and Propagation Journal since 2015.
Dr. Olga Boric-Lubecke
Professor, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
Dr. Olga Boric-Lubecke received the B.Sc. degree from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1989, the M.S. degree from Caltech in 1990, and the Ph.D. degree from UCLA, in 1995, all in electrical engineering. Since 2003, she has been with the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where she is a Professor of electrical engineering. Prior to joining UH, she was with Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, and from 1996 to 1998 she was a visiting researcher at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, in Sendai, Japan. She has authored or coauthored about 200 journal and conference publications, two books and several book chapters, and her research has been featured by various media outlets. She is an IEEE Fellow, and a Foreign Member of the Academy of Engineering of Serbia. Dr. Boric-Lubecke was the adviser-author of several award-winning IEEE MTT-S and IEEE EMB-S student papers. She served as the workshop chair for the 2003 IEEE IMS, and as technical program vice-chair for 2007 IEEE IMS. She served as associate editor for the IEEE MWCL, and for the IEEE EMBC from 2012 to 2015. She currently serves as associate editor for the IEEE T-MTT, and technical program co-chair for 2017 IEEE IMS.
Favorite Inspirational Quote: “Engineering is too important to be left to men.”