Overview of the Group:
Members of the Electromagnetics Research Group (EMRG) conduct research across a broad range of topics, both fundamental and applied. The EMRG is comprised of the Terahertz Systems Lab (TeSLa) led by Dr. Premjeet Chahal; the Distributed Electromagnetics Theory and Applications (DELTA) Group, led by Dr. Jeffrey Nanzer; the Laboratory for Electromagnetics and Millimeter-Wave Antennas (LEmmA), led by Dr. Mauro Ettorre; and the Photonic Systems Research Group (PSRG), led by Dr. Thomas Clark. Many projects in the group are collaborative efforts between its faculty members and students.
Applied research includes the design of microwave frequency selective structures, body-worn antennas, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), and terahertz sources, sensors, and devices. Such research also includes the development of new techniques for materials characterization via interrogation by microwave and terahertz radiation. Fundamental research is primarily concerned with developing rigorous computational methods for the analysis of fields across the electromagnetic spectrum. These methods include novel discretization techniques, fast methods in the frequency and time domains, and multiscale analysis.
Group History:
The EM group was started when Dr. Kun-Mu Chen joined Michigan State University in 1964. Dr. Chen was born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1933. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University in 1955, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Physics from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1958 and 1960, respectively. From 1960 to 1964 he was associated with the Radiation Laboratory at The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he was engaged in the studies of electromagnetics and plasma. He joined Michigan State University in 1964, first as an Associate Professor, and from 1967 to 1995 as Professor of Electrical Engineering. The first student Dr. Chen graduated at MSU, Dr. Dennis Nyquist in 1966, joined the group as a faculty member that same year.
As of summer 2016, the EM group has graduated over 120 graduate students, published over 450 peer reviewed articles, and been awarded over 140 research contracts and grants from a diverse range of sources such as the Department of Defense (NRL, AFRL, DARPA, ONT, NOSC, AFOSR), defense commercial (Lockheed, GE, MRC, Boeing, Thermo-electron, ITT), other federal (NASA, NSF, NIH), commercial (Chrysler, Delphi, EPRI, Dow), and state (MEDC, GREEEN).
Our current faculty members include Dr. Leo Kempel (Professor and Dean, joined 1998), Dr. Premjeet Chahal (Professor, joined 2009), Dr. Jeffrey Nanzer (Professor, joined 2016), Dr. Mauro Ettorre (Professor, joined 2023), and Dr. Thomas Clark (Professor, joined 2024). Our group is very collaborative and often work with other ECE faculty members (including Dr. John Papapolymerou, Dr. John Albrecht, Dr. Nelson Sepulveda, and Dr. John Verboncoeur) and groups (especially the NDE Group and Plasma Group). We also work with groups outside the ECE Department (such as Fraunhofer, FRIB/Cyclotron, Physics, Mathematics, Radiology, Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Chemical Engineering) and faculty/groups outside of MSU (UofM, OSU, AFIT, etc.).
Our group is active in all areas of electromagnetics research including theory, computation, and experimentation, and offers courses at the graduate level where students can gain knowledge and develop skills in all three areas. You can see our current research activities and graduate students on this website and browse our publications at our Google Scholar Page.
Webmaster:
This website is currently maintained by students Matthew Dula, Michael Dittman, and Ethan Neitzke. Any feedback, comments, or questions about the site can be directed to them via email, findable on their member pages.
Logo:
For current members, files for incorporating our group logo into posters, presentations, etc. can be found here.