Health, engineering converge at International Microwave Symposium

University of Illinois’ Swanlund Chair Professor John Rogers will deliver the plenary session address on Monday May 18 at the IEEE MTT-S 2015 International Microwave Symposium (IMS 2015) in Phoenix, kicking off a week of more than 160 technical sessions that indicate industry growth at the intersection of RF and microwave technologies with health.

Dr. Rogers’ opening keynote, “Soft Assemblies of Radios, Sensors, and Circuits for the Skin,” will focus on the experimental and theoretical approaches for using soft materials, ultrathin micro/nanostructures, and controlled processes of mechanical buckling to achieve ultralow modulus systems of semiconductor devices. The resulting skin-like technology has the potential to provide clinical-quality health monitoring capabilities for use outside of traditional hospital settings and laboratory facilities.

“Rogers sets the precedent for bridging the gap between research and real-world application,” said Vijay Nair, IMS symposium general chair. “His expertise allows him to provide deep insight into how technological innovation can result in significant opportunities for the microwave industry and for society as a whole.”

Closing IMS 2015 on Thursday May 21 is Agilent Technologies’ chief technology officer and senior vice president Dr. Darlene Solomon, who will present her vision for how breakthroughs in cellular biology will enable advances in biology-based engineering in her talk, “The Century of Biology is Great for Engineering.”

“Solomon’s holistic approach to the application of technology to address societal issues offers a unique perspective to illustrate the great opportunities ahead for RF and microwave engineers,” said Nair.

IMS 2015 will be held May 17-22, 2015, at the Phoenix Convention Center as the centerpiece of Microwave Week 2015. In addition to IMS 2015, Microwave Week includes the collocated RFIC Symposium and the ARFTG Conference. The symposium will also feature a number of technical sessions, panels, and workshops that address how microwave and RF technology is impacting health care, including “Microwave Techniques and Systems for Wireless Health Monitoring” on Wednesday May 20 and the “Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields (nsPEF)—from Modeling to Applications: Biology, Medicine, Plasma and Apparatus” workshop.

Since 2003, Dr. Rogers has been the Swanlund Chair Professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the department of materials science and engineering as well as chemistry. He is also the director of the Seitz Materials Research Laboratory. He has authored more than 450 papers and holds over 80 patents, more than 50 of which are licensed or in active use. An award-winning researcher, Dr. Rogers is a fellow of the IEEE, American Physical Society (APS), and Materials Research Society (MRS), and he is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS). Dr. Rogers received his bachelor’s in chemistry and physics as well as his doctorate in physical chemistry from the University of Texas, Austin.

Similarly, Dr. Solomon received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Stanford University and her doctorate in bioinorganic chemistry from MIT. She serves on multiple academic and government advisory and review boards, including the National Academies’ board on chemical sciences and technology, visiting committee on advanced technology of the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, Stanford University interdisciplinary biosciences advisory council, University of California-Berkeley’s College of Chemistry, and Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium (BASIC). She has been the chief technology officer of Agilent Technologies since 2006.

Dr. Solomon was inducted into the Women in Technology International’s Hall of Fame in 2001 and received the YWCA Tribute to Women and Industry Award in 2004. Additionally, she was named to Diversity Journal’s “Women Worth Watching” in 2007 as well as Corporate Board Member’s “50 Top Women in Technology” in 2008.

http://www.ims2015.org/