S. Pan of the Missouri University of Science and Technology won the Best Student Paper Award for his paper, “Equivalent Transmission-Line Model for Vias Connected to Striplines in Multilayer Print Circuit Boards.” The paper coauthors were J. Zhang, Q. B. Chen, and J. Fan. Mr. Pan (left) received the award from EMC Society President, Francesca Maradei.	Dr. Uma Balaji (left) of Farmingdale State College in New York received the 2010 EMC University Grant Award from EMC Society President, Francesca Maradei.

The Education and Student Activities Committee (ESAC) held its annual meeting at the Symposium this summer which was attended by educators and other engineers with an interest in EMC education. The committee seeks foster programs that develop EMC skills in those entering the profession and those practitioners working to broaden their knowledge.
     Part of our efforts has been directed at facilitating the establishment of EMC courses at the university level. A set of EMC experiments was originally collected by Dr. Clayton Paul beginning 20 years ago in order to assist professors in developing courses that reinforce the theory with practice. The experiments manual can be located under the ESAC page on the EMC Society website and is now maintained by Dr. Ed Wheeler of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Dr. Wheeler reported that several new experiments have been received, and a number of additional ones developed at the University of Michigan Dearborn based on Henry Ott’s new book will be added (see the Summer 2010 issue of the EMC Newsletter for more information).

     The EMC Society University Grant program was established to promote the development of original university-level courses in the principles of EMC. The funds made available for the last grant period were $5,000. Several excellent proposals were received and evaluated by the University Grant Committee. The award for this year went to Farmingdale State College in New York for the development of an EMC fundamentals course by Dr. Uma Balaji who also received recognition at the annual EMC Society awards luncheon in Fort Lauderdale. The grant this year marks the 15th such course developed in the 14-year history of the program. Well over 1,000 students have completed a full-semester course on EMC principles that was fostered by this program. Anyone interested in applying for a future course development grant is encouraged to visit the ESAC page of the EMC Society website or contact the chairman at jerset@citadel.edu.
     ESAC sponsors various events to encourage student interest in EMC. The student paper competition this year had 32 entrants, the largest number in memory, and was won by S. Pan
of the Missouri University of Science and Technology for his paper, “Equivalent Transmission-Line Model for Vias Connected to Striplines in Multilayer Print Circuit Boards.” The paper coauthors were J. Zhang, Q. B. Chen, and J. Fan. The work described used modal decomposition to derive a transmission line model for printed circuit board vias that can be implemented in circuit simulators in order to speed analysis and facilitate optimization.

Photos by Ken Wyatt

Professor Daryl Beetner (foreground far left) of the Missouri University of Science and Technology organized the well-attended EMC 2010 Fundamentals of EMC Workshop.

     ESAC has also traditionally sponsored a hardware design contest, although a lack of resources have precluded this competition during the past two years. At this year’s meeting concrete plans for reinstating this event for the EMC 2011 Symposium were described. Check the ESAC page of the EMC Society website for details and the rules of this renewed competition.
     ESAC sponsors a Workshop on the Fundamentals of EMC at each Symposium to aid engineering professionals entering the EMC field. The well-attended workshop for this year was organized by Professor Daryl Beetner of the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Six speakers presented tutorials on partial inductance, PCB design techniques, grounding, shielding, crosstalk, and EMC measurements and modeling.

     Last year ESAC established a subcommittee on grades K-12 outreach to investigate ways of presenting EMC concepts to pre-college students, starting with how EMI can affect everyday life. This year the committee, headed by Elya Joffe, reported on their work and the experiences of several individuals who have made such presentations at the high school and elementary school level. This ESAC subcommittee intends to develop and collect material that could assist others in reaching these young student audiences.
     ESAC invites anyone with an interest in EMC education to join us at our next annual meeting during the 2011 IEEE International symposium on EMC in Long Beach, California.               EMC