“Words Fly Through Air:” Notre Dame, SpectrumX’s lead institution, marks the 125th anniversary of the first known wireless transmission in the United States

Christina Clark on April 24, 2024

Every day, people use mobile devices to communicate, stream video, check the weather, navigate, play games, and use thousands of other apps. Only in the most recent decades have these technologies become more accessible. Wireless technology also underlies radio astronomy, satellites, television and radio broadcasting, geolocation and navigational services, and remote sensing.

The original experiments that made the wireless services used every day are not as old as some might think. In fact, it was just 125 years ago that the first known long-range wireless transmission in the United States was made on the campus of the University of Notre Dame.

NSF SpectrumX’s lead institution, the University of Notre Dame, celebrates 125 years of wireless innovation and education

Jessica Sieff on April 18, 2024

The University of Notre Dame is celebrating 125 years of wireless research, education and innovation with a modern re-enactment of one of the first long-range wireless transmissions conducted in the United States and a full-day symposium of panels and lab tours on Friday (April 19).

On April 19, 1899, Jerome Green, a professor in the University’s electrical department, transmitted a wireless message from Notre Dame’s Basilica of the Sacred Heart to Saint Mary’s College — known as Saint Mary’s Academy at the time — more than a mile away.

SpectrumX and Wireless Innovation Forum announce new partnership

Christina Clark on April 11, 2024

Today, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Spectrum Innovation Center, SpectrumX, announces its new partnership with the Wireless Innovation Forum, or WInnForum. Through this partnership, WInnForum has joined NSF SpectrumX’s Collaboration Advisory Board (CAB), through which its leadership will provide industry perspectives on the center’s research, policy outreach, and educational activities. SpectrumX has also joined WInnForum, enabling its researchers from 30 member institutions to  contribute to WInnForum working groups, task groups, and special interest groups.

SpectrumX policy outreach director, Notre Dame professor Monisha Ghosh testifies at Senate hearing on ‘Spectrum and National Security’

Jessica Sieff on March 22, 2024

Monisha Ghosh, professor of electrical engineering at the University of Notre Dame, testified on Thursday (March 21) before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on the topic of “Spectrum and National Security.”

The hearing, chaired by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, focused on the critical need for a “coordinated and comprehensive approach to domestic spectrum policy,” believed to be critical to U.S. national security. The committee sought opinions from experts on countering international threats and ways to ensure “the United States leads in spectrum use policy that protects the nation’s critical national security and economic competitiveness missions.”

Spectrum Week is back in 2024: Co-locating six major spectrum events

Christina Clark on March 18, 2024

The second annual U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Spectrum Week is open for  registration. This year, NSF Spectrum Week will be hosted May 13-17, 2024, in Arlington, Virginia. It will bring together six major spectrum events and create an even bigger opportunity for cross-collaborations than its first year in 2023. The collaborative organizational effort is again being led by SpectrumX, an academic hub where all spectrum innovators come together to innovate, collaborate, and contribute to the advancement of radio spectrum resources and sciences.

NSF SpectrumX members help lead 50th Anniversary USNC-URSI National Radio Science Meeting

Christina Clark on March 11, 2024

In January 2024, the National Radio Science Meeting celebrated its 50th anniversary. Twelve members of the SpectrumX, the National Science Foundation Spectrum Innovation Center, including two of the center’s students, were in attendance to further national conversations about radio science, telecommunications and electrical engineering.

The meeting, hosted by the U.S. National Committee (USNC) of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, took place from January 9-12, and resulted in the discussion of 12 research papers co-authored by SpectrumX members.

SpectrumX founding research partner named director of MIT Haystack Observatory

SpectrumX on January 29, 2024

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has announced that Philip Erickson was named the director of the MIT Haystack Observatory, effective January 1, 2024. Erickson has served as the Observatory’s associate director and geospace lead scientist since 2020.

Erickson is a founding member and research partner of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) SpectrumX, an NSF Spectrum Innovation Center. Erickson participated in Project Teams (PT) for Sensing and Data, as well as Working Groups (WG) in Policy and Economic Policy Research.

Electrical and computing engineering students learn academic research methods with SpectrumX at UCLA

Tiffanie Sammons on January 9, 2024

Over the summer of 2023, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) hosted three SpectrumX-sponsored students in its National Science Foundation (NSF) research experience for undergraduate (REU) program. These students were paired with graduate students to pursue research in the electrical and computer engineering field and were guided through the process researchers take from project formation to presentation throughout the 10-week program.

Two SpectrumX Colleagues Receive Google Endowed Professorships

Tiffanie Sammons on December 14, 2023

Florida A&M University (FAMU) has named two SpectrumX-affiliated faculty as Google endowed computer science and computer engineering progressors: Shonda Bernadin, Ph.D., an associate professor in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Hongmei Chi, Ph.D., a professor in the FAMU College of Science & Technology’s (CST) Department of Computer and Information Sciences.