EECS Alumna Jamesina Simpson Awarded Santimay Basu Medal of the International Union of Radio Science
The distinguishment is given to a young scientist (not more than 35 years old) who has made an outstanding contribution to research that furthers the understanding of radio-wave propagation in random media and its application for the benefit of society.
Prof. Jamesina Simpson (BSEE 03', PHD 07') has been awarded the Santimay Basu Medal of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI), with the following citation: "For advancing three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solutions of electromagnetic wave propagation withinthe global Earth-ionosphere waveguide applied to space weather, remote-sensing, and very low-frequency propagation." The Santimay Basu Prize is a "junior" URSI award and presented at the Opening Ceremony of the URSI General Assembly and Scientific Symposium in Montreal on August 20, 2017.
The prize is conferred at intervals of three years on the occasion of the URSI General Assembly. It is awarded to a young scientist (not more than 35 years old) who has made an outstanding contribution to research that furthers the understanding of radio-wave propagation in random media and its application for the benefit of society. The award takes into account the excellence of the research, the merit of the candidate in achieving his or her results, and the efforts required to accomplish the research.
Prof. Simpson is currently an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Utah. Her collegiate career began by obtaining B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Northwestern University, in 2003 and 2007, respectively. Prof. Simpson's Ph.D. advisor was Prof. Allen Taflove and the title of her Ph.D. dissertation was “3-D FDTD Modeling of Impulsive Electromagnetic Propagation in the Global Earth-Ionosphere Waveguide below 30 kHz” (View PDF). As a graduate student, Dr. Simpson was a recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship, and also received fellowships, awards, and grants-in-aid from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S), IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S), McCormick School of Engineering, and Intel Corporation.
From August 2007 to June 2012, Prof. Simpson was a tenure-track assistant professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at the University of New Mexico (UNM). In July 2012, she joined the University of Utah. Her research lab encompasses the application of FDTD to modeling electromagnetic phenomena at frequencies over 15 orders of magnitude (~1 Hz vs. ~600 THz). Prof. Simpson's research activities have been funded by NASA, Sandia National Labs, Los Alamos National Labs, Intel Corporation, the Department of Energy, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the National Science Foundation (NSF).