The Latest News from NSF spectrumx
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Stay updated with the latest developments in research and innovation. From groundbreaking scientific discoveries to research-focused headlines, our news section keeps you informed on stories that matter.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
In November 2023, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) put out a request for information on the Implementation Plan for the National Spectrum Strategy (NSS). Seventy-five spectrum stakeholders responded to the request, including NSF SpectrumX, the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Spectrum Innovation Center.
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.
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.
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.
SpectrumX’s founding Broadening Participation Director, Dr. Tanya Ennis, began her career as an electrical engineer and found her passion opening doors for young engineers through education. Since March 2022, Ennis has served as both Broadening Participation Director for both SpectrumX and the Research Support Office in the College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder). As of October 2023, she has been promoted and transitioned to a new role as Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Research, Creative Work and Innovation in the Research and Innovation Office at CU Boulder. She will continue
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU) hosted the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)’s Committee on Radio Frequencies (CORF) Fall meeting on October 3-4, 2023. CORF considers the needs for radio frequency requirements and interference protection for scientific and engineering research, coordinates the views of U.S. scientists, and acts as a channel for representing the interests of U.S. scientists.
Unveiling comprehensive undergraduate research experience programs, introducing a new board of advisory members, and launching a flagship workshop on crafting comments on policy for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) were just some of the top agenda items for attendees of SpectrumX’s Fall 2023 Center meeting. The meeting took place at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, from October 9 and 10, 2023. It brought the multi-institutional center, composed of 27 founding institutions and led by the University of Notre Dame, to the upper midwest to discuss research progress, center initiatives, and more.
In September, SpectrumX researchers—along with industry and government representatives—came together at TPRC 51: The 51st Annual Telecommunications Policy Research Conference in Washington, DC. For many of the Center’s spectrum researchers, TPRC is a regular part of their annual calendar. “TPRC once again provided an exceptional forum to discuss spectrum management. What seemed different – and even better – is that the SpectrumX participation is becoming an annual feature and expectation,” said Ilia Murtazashvili, SpectrumX lead of Project Team Rights (PT-Rights) and professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
In August, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a special invitation. In a Notice of Inquiry (NOI), it called upon researchers and others to help the FCC use “today’s tools to understand tomorrow’s commercial spectrum usage.” SpectrumX, a National Science Foundation (NSF) Spectrum Innovation Center, rose to the occasion. It submitted a center NOI comment with ten contributing authors and eight center endorsers.
Four students who participated in the Advanced Wireless Research Experiences (AWaRE) program, sponsored by the University of Notre Dame’s Wireless Institute and SpectrumX, presented research posters on July 26.
SpectrumX has formalized the creation of the SpectrumX Collaboration Advisory Board (CAB). One of the first two organizations to formalize CAB Membership Agreements is Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a company that is committed to “enabling a world where everyone and everything can be intelligently connected."
Recently, SpectrumX formalized the formation of the SpectrumX Collaboration Advisory Board (CAB). SpectrumX is pleased to announce that Aira Technologies has joined its CAB. Founded in 2019, Aira Technologies is radically re-imagining wireless communications using artificial intelligence (AI). Aira is using this data-driven, AI-powered approach to fundamentally improve the performance and the energy efficiency of the Radio Access Network (RAN).
In June 2023, SpectrumX formalized the formation of the SpectrumX Collaboration Advisory Board (CAB). Among the first two organizations to formalize CAB Membership Agreements is GIRD Systems, Inc. GIRD Systems, Inc. is a developer of customer digital signal processing solutions, that specializes in both the commercial and military market. Its mission “is to provide the latest digital signal processing algorithms, techniques and solutions that enable our customers to reduce development times and increase wireless communication systems’ performance.”
During the week of July 10, 2023, faculty and researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) hosted participants from five continents for the United States Telecommunication Training Institute (USTTI). Each day of the five-day course focused on a new topic: trends and impact in telecommunications, spectrum management and radio frequency technology, law and regulatory aspects around the globe, technology and innovations, and participant case study presentations.
WASHINGTON, July 20, 2023 — The FCC’s Space Bureau today announced its senior leadership team. Kerry Murray will serve as Deputy Chief and Chief of Staff and Jennifer Gilsenan, Troy Tanner and Patrick Webre will serve as Deputy Chiefs. Stephen Duall was named Associate Chief and Karl A. Kensinger was named Special Counsel. Whitney Lohmeyer and Jeanette Kennedy have joined the FCC, as Chief Technologist and Associate Chief, respectively