YP and WIM Panel
Where: Hilton Cocoa Beach, Cocoa Beach, Florida
When: April 15, 3:00 pm - 4:15 pm EST
Theme
Beyond Textbooks: An Insider's Perspective on RF and Microwave Design
The objective of the WAMICON 2025 Young Professionals (YP) and Women in Microwaves (WiM) workshop aims to provide an insider's perspective on RF and microwave design.Join us at the Q & A panel where experts from industry and academia will share key considerations for successful RF design and highlight how system-level factors can add complexity to even the most simple designs. While textbooks and hands-on practice in school build a strong foundation, a true systems-level understanding comes only with practical design experience. This panel will offer valuable insights to help bridge the gap for young professionals between academic learning and practical, real-world RF design challenges.
Listen to interesting anecdotes from industry and academia and get a chance to participate in a Q & A session!
Food will be served at the end of the session.
Panel Speakers
Paolo Focardi
Affiliation: Group Lead, Spacecraft Antennas Group, NASA JPL
Bio: Paolo Focardi is a Group Lead for Technology Development at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. He’s also the chair of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society chapter of the Coastal Los Angeles Section.
Paolo received a PhD in Computer Science and Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Florence, Italy, in 2002. He has been at JPL with various responsibilities since 1999 working on a variety of R&D and flight projects including SRTM, Aquarius, JUNO, SMAP, COWVR, NISAR, INCUS and VERITAS.
His work is focused on analytical and numerical methods in electromagnetism for the analysis and design of RF circuits and antennas.
He has authored and co-authored over 80 journal and conference publications including two book chapters about reflector antennas.
Kimberly Smelt
Affiliation: Senior Staff RF Engineer, Motorola Solutions
Bio: Kimberly smelt is a staff senior RF engineer at Motorola solutions. Her job puts her in a position where she deals with RF circuit design and debugging for critical communication products and radios ranging from VHF to near GHz bands. Kimberly specializes in system level instability analysis for critical communication RF frontend design. Kimberly received her bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Florida Atlantic University in 2018 and is one of the leading intern mentors at Motorola solutions.
Dr. Gaurangi Gupta
Matthew Ozalas
Affiliation: RF and Microwave Engineer, Scientist, Keysight Technologies
Bio: Matthew Ozalas is a Master Application Development Engineer, Scientist at Keysight Technologies. With an experience of more than 10 years, Matthew brings out a plethora of knowledge in complex RF designs using CAD tools.
Matthew has also authored several application notes on RF and MW design and development using Keysight ADS with his recent ones based on “Artificial neural network simulation models for RF power amplifiers” and has produced several tutorials on youtube regarding complex RF designs.
Matthew received his Master’s in electrical engineering from Ira A. Fulton schools of engineering at Arizona state university and has also received an MBA from W. P Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
Spencer Erekson
Laila Fighera Marzall
Affiliation: Assistant Research Professor, CU Boulder
Bio: Laila Fighera Marzall has a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder in broadband phased arrays and active microwave integrated devices design, an M.Sc. from Aeronautics Institute of Technology (Brazil, 2009), and an MBA in small business management from Fundação Getúlio Vargas (Brazil, 2014). She is an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, owner of TSM Antennas (Brazil), and founder of BoldRF LLC. Her research focuses on broadband phased arrays and non-reciprocal devices, like active circulators, phase shifters, and MMIC power amplifiers. She is a Senior Member of the IEEE, a URSI Member, and a peer reviewer for publications like IEEE MTT-S Transactions, IEEE Microwave Magazine, and IEEE Antennas and Propagation Transactions. She is also a member of the CU Boulder Electrical Engineering Department Marketing and Industry Outreach Committee.