Prof. Rhonda Franklin of College of Science & Engineering, University of Minnesota

Abstract: Over the past two decades, our vision for wireless and internet systems informed advances and the merger of communications with computing, imaging, and sensing to form multifunctional integrated devices. The evolution from 1G to 5G, enabled the connectivity of systems of devices through the Internet of Things and Smart Connected Cities to enhance human-to-human communications and lay the groundwork for ubiquitous connectivity between humans and machines. As we develop 6G communications alongside machine learning and AI, we are poised to see the leap, the development of systems of systems, which will demand new and different solutions for ever growing non-traditional applications in healthcare, the environment, agriculture, and transportation.

Concurrent progress in hardware design and fabrication are integral to achieving more functionality in small form factors with complex integrated hardware and software systems. Success in design of such innovations for high-speed circuitry, packaging, and integration, however, will also depend on both fabrication advances (i.e., microelectronics, nanotechnology, and MEMS technology) and novel use of materials to achieve the desired performance. This talk will highlight our advanced design concepts for applications in communication, ecology, and nanomedicine based on metasurfaces for antenna arrays, biosensors for material characterization, and nanotechnology for sub-terahertz interconnects and biolabels.

Biography:

Rhonda R. Franklin is the McKnight Presidential Professor of Electrical Engineering and Abbott Professor of Innovative Education in the Institute for Engineering in Medicine (IEM) at the University of Minnesota (UMN). She is a distinguished researcher specializing in high-frequency circuit and antenna design, integration/ packaging, and materials characterization. With 161 co-authored articles, six book chapters, and 12 patents/ application/ licenses, her work spans high-speed communications, biomedicine/ nanomedicine, and ecology applications. She has been recognized for her research, teaching, and service excellence and commitment with the NSF Presidential Early Career Award, IEEE MGA Diversity & Inclusion Award, IEEE N. Walter Cox Service Award, UMN College of Science and Engineering's George W. Taylor Award for Distinguished Service and the Univ. of Michigan Distinguished Educator Alumni Award. She is an MTT-S Distinguished Microwave Instructor, a strong advocate for engineering student education, graduate education and broadening participation in the field. She is an IMS Project Connect co-founder, UMN’s IEM Inspire program Co-Director, and Director of a new NSF Inclusive Mentoring Hub: M-FORCE to broaden participation in research careers. She has supervised 27 graduate students (M.S./Ph.D.), guided 34 undergraduate student research projects and is committed to developing excellent engineers and fostering inclusive diverse environments academia and the profession.