Young Professionals Panel
Date/Time: Sunday, 21 January 2024, 8:30pm – 9:30pm
Organizer: Davi Rodrigues, The University of Texas at El Paso
This interactive session will offer a rare opportunity to tap into the minds of accomplished professionals who have navigated the complexities of either industry or academia. The panelists will provide guidance to young professionals and answer questions from the audience. Join us at the Young Professionals Panel for a chance to connect, learn, and ignite your career!
Additional information on the panelists can be found below.
Panelists
Dr. Tejinder Singh received the Ph.D. degree (with highest academic honor) in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada, in 2020. He is currently a Principal Member of Technical Staff, Office of the CTO at Dell Technologies, ON, Canada and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo, ON, Canada. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, CA, USA from 2020–21 and a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo, ON, Canada from 2020-22. He was a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Waterloo from 2015 to 2019. He held a Microelectronics Research and Development Engineer position in industry from 2010 to 2012. From 2014 to 2015, he served as a University Instructor/Lecturer. He is currently serving as a Chair of Professional Activities with the IEEE KW Section and as a Chair of the ECE-Graduate Student Association, at the University of Waterloo from 2017 to 2018. He has authored or coauthored several research publications. His current research interests include designing, modeling, characterization, and fabrication of phase change materials (PCMs) and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based RF devices for microwave and millimeter-wave (mmWave) applications. He has contributed to the development of PCM GeTe-based miniaturized components for mmWave applications. He has developed various reconfigurable monolithically integrated circuits and components.
Dr. Valentina Palazzi received the M.Sc. degree (magna cum laude) in electronic engineering and the Ph.D. degree in industrial and information engineering from the University of Perugia, Italy, in 2014 and 2018, respectively. In 2015, she was a Visiting Ph.D. Student with the Tyndall National Institute, Cork, Ireland. In 2016, she visited the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, sponsored by the COST action IC1301 Wireless Power Transmission for Sustainable Electronics. In 2016, she joined the Agile Technologies for High- Performance Electromagnetic Novel Applications Research Group, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA, where she was involved in additive manufacturing technologies and flexible electronics. Since 2019, she has been a researcher with the High Frequency Electronics Laboratory, Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Italy. She has co-authored more than 50 articles and holds 3 patents. Her current research interests include RF components, wireless sensors, radar front ends, wireless power transfer technologies, additive manufacturing processes, and conformal electronics. Dr. Palazzi is the chair of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technique Society (MTT-S) Technical Committee- 26 “RFID, Wireless Sensor and IoT”, and is Early Career Representative of the Commission D ”Electronics and Photonics” of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI). She was a recipient of the First Place Award of the Student Design Competition on Wireless Energy Harvesting held at the 2016 IEEE MTT-S “International Microwave Symposium” (IMS), of the IEEE MTT-S Graduate Fellowship in 2017, of the 2017 MTT-S Prize – Italy Chapter Central and Southern Italy, of the URSI Young Scientist Best Paper Award conferred at the 2019 URSI Italian National Meeting, of the Second Place at the 3 Minute Thesis Competition held at IMS 2021, and of the GAAS Young Scientist Recognition (URSI Commission D) conferred at URSI GASS 2021.
Dr. Ricardo Figueiredo was born in Viseu, Portugal, in 1995. He received the M.Sc. degree and the Ph.D. degree in electronics and telecommunications engineering from the Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal, in 2018 and in 2023, respectively. He is currently a Research Associate at the Instituto de Telecomumicações, Aveiro. His main research interests include nonlinear instrumentation and nonlinear characterization of microwave systems. Dr. Figueiredo is an affiliate member of MTT-3 and MTT-23, and a member of the IEEE MTT-S Student Branch Chapter at Universidade de Aveiro. He was the recipient of the 2021 Three Minute Thesis Competition (Third Place) of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (IEEE MTT-S) International Microwave Symposium (IMS).
Dr. Taiyun Chi received the B.S. degree (with highest Hons.) from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, China, in 2012, and the Ph.D. degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA, in 2017. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA. His research interests include RF/millimeter-wave/terahertz integrated circuits and integrated bio-sensors and bio-actuators. His research group received the 2022 IEEE RFIC Symposium Best Student Paper Award Finalist, the 2021 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC) Best Student Paper Award, the 2021 IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS) Advanced Practice Paper Award Finalist, and the 2021 Texas Wireless Symposium Student Research Competition Award (1st Place). He was also a recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award in 2023, the Rice School of Engineering Teaching and Research Excellence Award in 2023, the Sigma Xi Best Ph.D. Thesis Award (Georgia Tech Chapter) in 2018, the IEEE CICC Best Paper Award in 2017, the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society (SSCS) Predoctoral Achievement Award in 2017, the Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) Graduate Fellowship for Medical Applications in 2016, and the USTC Guo Moruo Presidential Scholarship in 2012. He is a Technical Program Committee (TPC) Member of the IEEE CICC and IMS and the TPC Co-Chair of the IEEE Texas Symposium on Wireless and Microwave Circuits and Systems.
Sara Pena Barros was born and raised in Portugal and currently lives in The Netherlands. She received her MSc in Electronics Engineering and Telecommunications in 2013, having spent her first three undergraduate years at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, and her last two years at Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Her studies ended with a full-year research project, “OFDM for Data Distribution in Phased Array Antennas,” in collaboration with Thales Nederland B.V., for which a patent application was filed. After graduating, she continued with the company and joined their ‘Surface Radar – Strategy, Technology, and Innovations’ group in Delft as an Advanced Development Engineer. There, she is involved in low TRL research activities related to the development of advanced waveform concepts and novel radar technology; she also leads Integrated Topside Design studies for Navies worldwide, technically responsible for the Radiation Hazards and above-deck interference analysis. IEEE member and active volunteer since 2009, she has served in several positions, currently acting as IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society Young Professionals Chair and IEEE Region 8 (Europe, Africa, and Middle East) Membership Development Past-Chair. In her spare time, she enjoys playing piano, reading, caring for her plants, and chasing the sun with friends and family.
Dr. Kiki Ikossi has Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Cincinnati with an emphasis in Solid State Electronics and a B.S.E.E. from the National Technical University of Athens (EMP), Greece. Dr. Ikossi’s expertise is in advanced micro and nanoelectronic devices in exploratory materials. Her research interests include high-frequency – high-efficiency power amplifiers, nano-optoelectronics, sensors, detectors, photovoltaics, quantum effects for solid-state devices, and unconventional materials for device applications. She has published over 100 scientific papers, has numerous invention disclosures, and has a US patent. Dr. Ikossi has held academia, major research labs, and government positions. She has been a tenured Associate Professor at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, a research professor and adjunct Professor at George Mason University Fairfax, VA, an adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community College, a senior scientist at the electronics lab at Wright Paterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, an AAEE faculty research fellow and senior scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C, a technology advisor for the Department of Commerce, a science and technology program manager for basic science research programs with DoD, and President of I-Cube Inc. Dr. Kiki Ikossi has been a 2020-2022 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) – Science and Technology Policy Fellow (STPF) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) In Alexandria, VA. Currently, she is an independent Research and Development Science and Technology consultant.
