Last year, we had four new Fellows elected from the candidates that were evaluated by the EMC Society Fellow Evaluation Committee. Our four new Fellows are:

Dr. Gerard T. Capraro

Andrew L.S. Drozd

Dr. Valeri YA Kontorovitch

Dr. Thomas Van Doren

Two of our new Fellows were featured in the last issue of the EMC Newsletter. The other two are featured in this issue. Congratulations to all four gentlemen!

Introducing Gerry Capraro

Dr. Gerry Capraro was elected to the grade of IEEE Fellow for "Leadership in identifying and establishing a methodology to apply computing technologies for assessing the electromagnetic compatibility of systems."

Gerry received a B.A. in 1996 from Utica College of Syracuse University. He received a M.S. in 1973 and a Ph.D. in 1978 from Syracuse University.

Dr. Capraro started his career at the USAF/Rome Laboratory in 1966. Gerry worked on several projects to develop EMC analysis models for communication systems. He played a major role in the development of the Intrasystem ElectroMagnetic Compatibility Analysis Program (IEMCAP). The introduction of standardized computerized analytical tools, such as IEMCAP, for use by contractors in the 1970's provided a new way of doing business.

Prior to the development of IEMCAP, each contractor used their limited set of proprietary tools to justify their designs. There was no standard that could be used to compare results. IEMCAP was the first basic tool for intrasystem EMC analysis that allowed the USAF to assess the design of complex systems using a standard computerized tool. Contractors had to assess their system and subsystem using IEMCAP as a baseline. This provided the government and contractors with a standard digitized database and software tool for risk reduction and for further analysis of potential EMI problems. Government and industry personnel for both military and commercial applications are still using the IEMCAP today.

Dr. Capraro was the technical leader for the USAF Intrasystem Analysis Program (IAP). His technical leadership resulted in the development of a series of computerized electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) analysis tools for use by the government and industry for the development of complex ground and aerospace systems. Over 100 US organizations and 50 foreign governments and their contractors are still using the IAP analysis tools.

Gerry worked for Kaman Sciences from 1984 to 1993 and then he founded Capraro Technologies Inc. He is currently the President, Senior Scientist, Manager and Technical Leader performing research and development for the USAF and software development for the government and industry.

Dr. Capraro has been active in the IEEE EMC Society. He was Chairman of the Mohawk Valley Chapter, a member of the Board of Directors of the EMC Society, and Co-Technical Chairman for the 1985 IEEE International Symposium on EMC. He has authored and co-authored over 40 published papers and he is a NARTE Certified EMC Engineer.

Gerry acknowledges that he had a good time over the years working in both the EMC community and in the computer field. One of his major goals was to bring software tools into the engineering field. Gerry is pleased that we have progressed from databases with cardboard cards to very sophisticated database management systems operating over the Internet. Gerry states "we truly have come a long way in the last 36 years. When we designed IEMCAP we were worried that it would not run efficiently because of the number of equipments and the number of frequencies we could assign to model the emission and susceptibility levels of a particular port. Memory and speed were a major concern back then."

"For the last eighteen years I have been working on bringing database management and artificial intelligence techniques to the signal processing arena. We have had great success and are pushing technologies to embed more intelligence in numerical processing. Another major area we are pushing is to extend the Internet to bandwidth and processing deprived devices like cell phones, personal digital assistants, and hand-held computing devices in general. Our goal is to provide information to a user anytime, anywhere, and on any device."

"The above provides a brief overview of my career for the past 36 years. However, it doesn't say much about the journey I traveled and the great times along the way. Working in the EMC community all these years has brought me many challenges, much happiness, and above all the fortunate gift of meeting and working with some of the best people in the IEEE to include: Bud Adams, Jack Edwards, Roger Harrington, John Norgard, Clayton Paul, Jose Perini, Jake Scherer, Ken Siarkiewicz, John Spina, Brad Strait, and Don Weiner. I also want to thank all the people I have worked with within the EMC Society over the years who were not mentioned above. Some of these people are: Dick Ford, Larry Cohen, Don Heirman, Ed Bronaugh, Henry Ott, and Chester Smith."

"There are numerous other people that should be noted but the list is too long. Therefore, I would like to thank all of the individuals that I have had the good fortune to work with for making the first part of my journey so fruitful and joyful."

Introducing Tom Van Doren

Dr. Tom Van Doren was elected to the grade of IEEE Fellow for "Contributions to electromagnetic compatibility education at the undergraduate, graduate and post graduate level."

Dr. Van Doren received the BSEE, MSEE, and PhD degrees from the University of Missouri- Rolla (UMR) in 1962, 1963, and 1969, respectively. He spent two years in the military as a Lieutenant with the Army Security Agency and then worked with Collins Radio Company as a Microwave engineer for three years in the late 1960s. He has worked as a Professor of Electrical Engineering at UMR for the past 33 years. He is now a Professor Emeritus at UMR.

Tom has devoted his professional career efforts to providing EMC education to students, experienced engineers and technicians. He has helped to educate approximately 2,000 undergraduate students. Tom developed the "Grounding and Shielding" course 19 years ago. It was one of the first EMC courses offered at a university and is still one of the most popular elective courses at UMR.

During the past 19 years, more than 16,000 persons have attended his short courses on "Grounding and Shielding" and "Circuit Board Layout." A significant fraction of all the engineers in the world that have to deal with EMI problems have benefited directly or indirectly from his work. His reputation as an excellent instructor has created a high demand for his courses. Tom has the ability to reduce complex ideas to their most fundamental components and convey these ideas to engineers and engineering students at all levels.

Tom has a passion for both learning and teaching. At the University of Missouri-Rolla, he leads research projects, supervises graduate students, teaches short courses, and contributes significantly to a wide range of projects. He has initiated several new courses and education projects that have been highly successful.

Tom spends a great deal of time and effort helping students and faculty to solve engineering problems and understand engineering concepts. His door is always open and Tom is often seen working with students or other faculty on projects in which he is not officially involved. This work has had a significant impact on the education and productivity of others. Tom is an outstanding educator because he truly enjoys learning and he truly enjoys teaching. He has helped thousands of people to solve EMC problems and become better engineers.

Tom emphasizes that: "There are several concepts that even experienced engineers have misunderstood. Many people believe that currents go to ground taking the path of least resistance. In actuality, sinusoidal currents return to their sources taking the path of least impedance. Many also believe that the current return path is the grounding connection, but in reality the routing of currents and the grounding of currents are two entirely different concepts. It is also incorrectly thought that a straight wire possesses the property of self-inductance, when a complete current loop is required to create self-inductance. I have enjoyed for many years the opportunity to work with students, engineers, and circuit board layout personnel to improve their understanding of EMC principles."

"Even though EMC education has been my main contribution, I enjoy most the solving of EMI problems. Through the EEC Research Group at the University of Missouri–Rolla I have the opportunity to work with enthusiastic faculty and students on a variety of EMC problems. We currently have 19 companies sponsoring our research in nine different project areas. We have developed several experimental measurement and modeling techniques to help us understand EMI problems, especially the energy coupling mechanisms."

Tom received the EMC Society's Richard R. Stoddard award in 1993 for "Contributions to the advancement of EMC technology and the education of EMC engineers."

Regarding family, Tom says "I have had the blessing of being married to an angel for 42 years. We have successfully raised three sons. By "successfully" I mean that they have left the family home and appear to be financially independent. Now that we have four grandchildren, my wife and I mostly ignore our sons and focus on the grandkids."

As for hobbies, Tom says "I don't have much time for hobbies, but I do have two: slow dancing with my wife and gardening. EMC engineering may be based on science, but slow dancing is an art." EMC