The was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to join their highly successful for Electromagnetic Compatibility (CEMC). This joint venture with UH, the Missouri University of Science and Technology and the University of Houston makes CEMC one of the largest electromagnetic research focused groups in the world.

This collaboration will broaden the application of electromagnetics in research areas particularly active at UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹—wireless technologies, medical measurement/patient monitoring, and reinforcement/machine learning and optimization methods for renewable energy applications, quantum-scale engineering and liquid metals for reconfigurable microwave circuits.

The grant was made possible through the efforts of UH ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹ Professor , his team at the (HCAC) and colleagues from across the . HCAC will oversee UH‘s involvement in CEMC.

‘Through this award, we leverage NSF funding to enable a long-term and sustainable industry relevant research program that is based on partnership among industry, academe and government, ’ said Iskander. ‘NSF funds together with secured required industry memberships will enable the establishment of a half-a-million dollar Industry-University Cooperative Research Center. ’

Aided by an industrial advisory board that includes representatives from from more than 25 high-tech and technology-related corporations, such as Apple, IBM, Intel, Boeing, Cisco and Sony, and the new addition of Raytheon, Hawaiian Electric Company, SPAWAR and L3 Technologies from UH, CEMC has cultivated an impressive track record for developing techniques and materials to improve the speed and reliability of electronics, with applications in aerospace, communications, renewable energy, biomedical and electromagnetic compatibility and interference technologies.

High-tech industry gathering of the year at UH

The board will hold its inaugural meeting November 6–9 at the East-West Center.

Registration is free and attendance from local high-tech companies is welcome. Attendees are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. For meeting registration and additional information, visit the or contact Iskander at (808) 956-3434.

Advanced communications technology could bring broadband wireless service to remote and rural areas in the Hawaiian Islands, under a new research grant funded by the (NSF).

The at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Mānoa’s received $500,000 to pursue an innovative solution based on improving the efficiency of radio spectrum utilization.

And it’s not just wireless for folks living off the grid in Hāna. Across the United States, more than 19 million people, or 6 percent of the population, do not have access to reliable broadband communications coverage. Availability of such coverage is essential to education, jobs, healthcare and economic development, yet many people living in rural or otherwise inaccessible areas have only low-speed dial-up access or no data service at all.

Rough terrain and large undeveloped areas often present challenges to the implementation of cost-effective and reliable broadband wireless service.

The Â鶹´«Ã½ Center for Advanced Communications is proposing a new solution based on the use of smart networking with high-performance directional antennas, propagation modeling applications and spectrum-sensing resources.

“New network access protocols need to be developed, so that these advances may be achieved without affecting available communications standards and systems,” said Magdy F. Iskander, director of the Â鶹´«Ã½ Center for Advanced Communications. “Our solution represents a bold new concept for integrating these new capabilities to support customers in low-density regions.”

The program director for the NSF electrical, communications and cyber systems division who recommended the grant described the Â鶹´«Ã½ Center for Advanced Communications proposal as “an excellent proposal which will make a major impact on wireless communications for rural areas…[It] will have a transformative impact on rural communities.”

The new NSF funding will support three years of research and development activity, during which time Iskander and the Â鶹´«Ã½ Center for Advanced Communications team will develop a prototype of their new broadband technology and test it in rural areas in Â鶹´«Ã½.

—

—By Talia Ogliore

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Mānoa and its (HCAC) are supporting a Molokaʻi High, has already received recognition for her strong commitment to protecting Hawaiian endangered birds. She placed second overall at the 54th annual Maui Science and Engineering Fair and later won first place for best senior research project in the animal science category from the . Her successful work is focused on improving the reproduction environment of the Hawaiian Coot and involves creating artificial floating nesting structures in Pipiʻo Pond in the Mapulehu area. Jenkins did not slow after these successes, and continued to work hard to improve the environment for endangered birds on her island and throughout Â鶹´«Ã½.

Jenkins began exploring the use of thermal imaging for noninvasive monitoring of the Hawaiian Coot population and perhaps for counting eggs, to better track their population and to correlate growth rates with environmental conditions such as the impacts of encroaching mangrove forests on ponds, nesting areas and food sources. She had reached a point, though, where she was limited by available resources, so she reached out for assistance. Jenkins contacted several universities and other agencies looking for support for her project. Peter Crouch, dean of the College of Engineering at UH Mānoa, in turn informed Professor Magdy Iskander, director of HCAC, to discuss the high school student’s request and importance of supporting her project.

During her visit to the UH Mānoa campus, Jenkins saw demonstration of HCAC’s thermal imaging system, where she observed the ranges and effects of thermal camera parameters. Professor Iskander and his team of faculty and graduate students helped her to determine specific requirements for thermal imaging of wildlife in the field.

Crouch and Iskander were impressed with the high school student’s passion, knowledge and professional approach to her project, and committed to purchasing a thermal imaging system, suitable for wildlife observations in the field, to support her project. HCAC also donated two sets of water quality measurement equipment to assist with the monitoring and data collection of the environmental conditions in and around the nesting areas. This equipment included wireless sensors for monitoring water pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen and salinity, along with an additional sensor for measuring water flow rates and an iPod Touch for wireless data collection.

Jenkins is already using some of the equipment in support of her project and also to help mentor a College of Engineering supports high school student’s research first appeared on University of HawaiÊ»i System News.]]> 21462 /news/2013/04/02/magdy-iskander-named-distinguished-educator-in-engineering/ Tue, 02 Apr 2013 21:41:22 +0000 http://www.hawaii.edu/news/?p=15510 UH Mānoa Professor Magdy Iskander receives the Distinguished Educator Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

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Magdy F. Iskander, University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at Mānoa professor of and the director of the , received the 2013 Distinguished Educator Award from the Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) of the (IEEE). The award recognizes an individual “who must be a distinguished educator and who also has an outstanding record of research contributions, documented in archival journals.”

The award will be conferred at the annual awards banquet to be held June 2–7 in Seattle, WA.

This award is extremely selective with only the best educators in engineering worldwide being honored. “It is also particularly impressive that Professor Iskander also received the 2012 Chen-To-Tai Distinguished Educator Award from the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) of IEEE. It is, therefore, almost a unanimous declaration by the electromagnetics community (dominant majority in AP-S and MTT-S) that Professor Iskander is a distinguished educator and researcher,” wrote Constantine Balanis, Regents’ Professor at Arizona State University.

At UH Mānoa, Iskander teaches in the electrical engineering department and conducts research in wireless communications and advanced radar technologies in the Â鶹´«Ã½ Center for Advanced Communications, where he established state-of-the art laboratory facilities including an indoor antenna range, microwave network analysis laboratory and wireless testbed, and an RF device fabrication and characterization facility.

Â鶹´«Ã½ Center for Advanced Communications

The Â鶹´«Ã½ Center for Advanced Communications has also been a partner in the National Science Foundation Industry/University Research Center in Telecommunications with four other universities including the Arizona State University, University of Arizona, Rensselaer Polytechnic University and the Ohio State University.

The center’s research focus is on using electromagnetic technologies and advanced signal processing techniques in the design and optimization of advanced multifunction wireless communication, physical cyber systems and innovative radar technologies.

—By Nicole Atienza

The post Magdy Iskander named distinguished educator in engineering first appeared on University of Hawaiʻi System News.]]>