Dalma Novak

Abstract: This talk will tell the story of the transition of Dalma Novak’s technical career from a University Professor in Australia to working at a venture-backed start-up in the US which she co-founded and where she develops advanced radio-over-fiber systems. Dalma is chair of the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) Committee on Diversity and Inclusion (CDI).Abstract: This talk will tell the story of the transition of Dalma Novak’s technical career from a University Professor in Australia to working at a venture-backed start-up in the US which she co-founded and where she develops advanced radio-over-fiber systems. Dalma is chair of the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) Committee on Diversity and Inclusion (CDI).

Biography:

Dalma Novak is VP of Engineering at Octane Wireless where she develops high-performance RF-over-fiber technologies for commercial and defense wireless applications.  She is also an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Melbourne, Australia.  Dalma has over 30 years of experience working in the optical and wireless communications fields and is internationally recognized for her work in microwave photonics and fiber radio technologies.  She has contributed several book chapters on the design of fiber-wireless communication systems and has more than 300 publications in these areas, including several book chapters and patents.  In 2007 Dalma was elected to the grade of IEEE Fellow for her contributions to enabling technologies for the implementation of fiber-radio systems.  In 2018 she received the IEEE Photonics Society Engineering Achievement Award.

Prior to co-founding Pharad, now Octane Wireless, in 2004, Dalma spent 12 years as a Professor and Chair of Telecommunications in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Melbourne, Australia.  From June 2001 – December 2003 she was a Technical Section Lead at the venture-backed Dorsál Networks, Inc. and later at Corvis Corporation where she led cross-disciplinary R&D teams developing hardware for long-haul transmission systems.  Dalma received her Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (with First Class Honors) and Doctor of Philosophy from The University of Queensland, in 1987 and 1992, respectively.

Dalma is a member of the IEEE Board of Directors as Director of IEEE Division X for 2021– 2022 and is the 2021–2022 Chair of the IEEE Technical Activities Board (TAB) Committee on Diversity and Inclusion (CDI).