News Archive

The ARRC is pleased to share that Prof. Hjalti Sigmarsson has received the Graddy Award from OU's Graduate College for his work as the graduate advisor for ECE.

The Graddy Award is given based on nominations from the Graduate College, and recognizes outstanding service to graduate students.

A PhD student in the School of Meteorology, Noah is currently advised by Dr. Pierre Kirstetter & Dr. Jeffrey Basara. His recent accomplishments include:

•  ARRC Student Journal Publication Award (2021)

•  School of Meteorology Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award (2020)

•  James Bruce Morehead Award for graduate research in weather and climate (2019)

Noah is currently working on understanding precipitation characteristics and processes in tropical cyclones using ground and space-borne radar observations.  Notable publications include "The Inland Maintenance and Re-intensification of Tropical Storm Bill (2015) Part 2: Precipitation Microphysics" and  "Quantifying Precipitation Efficiency and Drivers of Excessive Precipitation in Post-Landfall Hurricane Harvey."

In his free time, Noah enjoys hiking, cooking, playing soccer, and biking. After completing his Ph.D., he hopes to become a professor so that he can continue to do research, teach, mentor and work with students, and participate in field campaigns.

Congratulations to our February 2021 student of the month, Heath Vann.  Heath is a Masters student in the school of Electrical and Computer Engineering, advised by Dr. Nathan Goodman.

Heath's research with Dr. Goodman focuses on on simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) with all-digital arrays for multi-function applications.

In his free time, Heath enjoys spending time outdoors, playing disc golf, and spending time with his wife.

Ellie Langley has been selected as the ARRC's January 2020 Student of the Month!

Ellie is a School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Masters student advised by Caleb Fulton.

Her current research focuses on working with Dr. Fulton on a project called HORUS, involving phased arrays.

In her free time, Ellie likes to run and play the cello!

Our December student of the month, Tony R. Segales, is a PhD student in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.  Tony is advised by Prof. Phil Chilson.

"My research centers around developing small unmanned aircraft systems for adaptive atmospheric sampling which utilizes CAD modeling, system optimization, hardware and software integration, and control theory. I am leading the design of the CopterSonde series of vehicles, which focus on the collection of precise weather data at high temporal and spatial resolutions. I also advise other projects in which sensor integration or new UAS are required, such as SENSR."

"I like to spend my free time flying my own RC helicopter and FPV drones at the airfield. I also enjoy playing tennis, watching Formula 1 races, and doing outdoor activities."

On November 30, 2020, the ARRC hosted a virtual ceremony congratulating Arturo Umeyama as the 2020 WNI Scholarship Recipient. Executive Director Bob Palmer gave remarks, along with Dean Berrien Moore and Weathernews Inc. CEO Chihito Kusabiraki.

The $5000 award, established in 2017 to enhance advanced research and development of radar technology, is presented annually to an outstanding ARRC student studying weather radar, observations of the atmosphere, data analysis, and implementation.

Please click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

"To get more students excited about engineering careers in RF and help them better understand Electromagnetics (EM) principles, Assistant Professor Jay McDaniel worked with Tektronix to devise a 10-workstation lab for experiential learning opportunities in OU’s EM courses.

Tektronix’s cost-effective USB instrumentation like the TTR500 series vector network analyzer and RSA306B series spectrum analyzer helped OU make a budget conscious purchase that would attract more students to the program and better prepare those students for jobs after they graduate."

Visit the Tektronix website here to read more and view a PDF of the case study.

"After a debilitating motorcycle accident, a top radar researcher defied the odds with help from family and colleagues on two OU campuses."  Anne Barajas Harp of Sooner Magazine has written a story on faculty member Caleb Fulton's motorcycle accident last fall, and his amazing recovery.  Please read more here

Congratulations to ECE/ARRC undergraduate researcher Nicole Palmer for being awarded an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) grant from the University of Oklahoma's Honors College. Students must choose a faculty mentor and submit a budget and a one-page proposal on a research project that they will conduct and present at the Honors College's Undergraduate Research Day. Nicole's proposal was around the idea of using an automotive radar module, a 2D mechanical actuator system, and a custom timing and control design to generate synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of a target scene. This measurement setup can be used as a SAR demonstrator during tours of the Radar Innovations Lab (RIL) to help guests visualize complex radar concepts. Her concept was fully funded for $986.53 to purchase the radar and data conversion module needed for the experiment. Nicole is an undergraduate research assistant under Dr. Jay McDaniel, who will serve as the faculty mentor for this UROP. Congratulations, Nicole, on this outstanding accomplishment!