Eric Nelson (Chief, Spectrum and Propagation Measurements Division, NTIA/ITS)
Eric Nelson is the Chief of the Spectrum and Propagation Measurements Division which evaluates new spectrum sharing technologies such as dynamic frequency selection and dynamic spectrum access and develops and deploys custom systems to measure radiated emissions, radiowave propagation, interference susceptibility, and spectrum occupancy. Mr. Nelson received his M.S.E.E. from the University of Washington in 1993 with an emphasis in applied electromagnetics. He has held RF systems engineering positions with both metropolitan and airborne wireless carriers and was the Director of RF Engineering for CommNet Cellular. He served five years as a combat communications officer in the Washington Air National Guard. Mr. Nelson joined ITS in 2002 and led the development of the Public Safety Communications Research lab’s land mobile radio testing capability and spearheaded the formation of a conformity assessment program for Project 25 equipment. His current focus is improved systems engineering and modeling for spectrum sharing.
Mark Gibson (Comsearch)
With over 30 years of spectrum management experience, Mr. Gibson is responsible for developing domestic and international business opportunities for Comsearch. In addition to leading Comsearch’s technical and business development efforts for AWS, 3.5 GHz and TV White Space products and services, he has led efforts to address spectrum sharing between Federal government and commercial users. Mr. Gibson is a co-chair of the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, where he has also co-chaired working groups related to spectrum sharing and data exchange issues. He has led Comsearch’s spectrum management efforts including the development of spectrum sharing analysis protocols and sharing criteria, as well as development of Comsearch’s engineering services and software products. He has led Comsearch’s efforts in working with the American Society for Healthcare Engineering as their technical partner for WMTS frequency coordination. Mr. Gibson has authored several papers on spectrum sharing and relocation and has advised numerous wireless participants in their system design. He is a Life Member of IEEE and received his BSEE from the University of Maryland.
Jean-Philippe Kermoal (SEAMCAT Manager, European Communications Office)
Jean-Philippe Kermoal is a spectrum expert at the European Communications Office (Denmark). He has managed the SEAMCAT project since 2007. From 2007 to 2015, he chaired the CEPT group on Fixed Service (SE19). Dr. Kermoal received his PhD from Aalborg University (Denmark) in 2002. In 2002, he joined Nokia Research Centre (Finland) where he was involved in 3GPP standardization and spectrum related topics for 4G.
Lawrence E. Strickling (Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, NTIA)
Through the Secretary of Commerce, Dr. Strickling is President Obama’s principal advisor on telecommunications policy. He is also Administrator of NTIA. Dr. Strickling is a technology policy expert with more than two decades of experience in the public and private sectors. As Policy Coordinator for Obama for America, Dr. Strickling oversaw two dozen domestic policy committees and was responsible for technology and telecommunications issues. Prior to joining the campaign, Dr. Strickling was Chief Regulatory and Chief Compliance Officer at Broadwing Communications for three years. His private sector experience also includes serving in senior roles at Allegiance Telecom and CoreExpress, Inc. and as a member of the Board of Directors of Network Plus. In government, he served at the Federal Communications Commission as Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau from 1998 to 2000. Prior to that, Dr. Strickling was Associate General Counsel and Chief of the FCC’s Competition Division. During his tenure at the FCC, Dr. Strickling developed and enforced rules to foster competition and protect consumers in the telecommunications marketplace. Prior to joining the FCC, he was Vice President, Public Policy at Ameritech. Before Ameritech, he was a litigation partner at the Chicago law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. Dr. Strickling earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in economics.
Pierre de Vries (Senior Adjunct Fellow, Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship, University of Colorado)
Pierre de Vries works at the intersection of communications technology and government policy. He is a Senior Adjunct Fellow of the Silicon Flatirons Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, and Co-Director of its Spectrum Policy Initiative. His current work focuses on improving the management of radio interference; current projects include harm claim thresholds (aka interference limits) and risk-informed interference assessment. Previous projects have included regulatory paradigms for the internet/web, the use of metaphors in wireless policy, spectrum allocation in the TV white spaces, and the impact of intangibility on decision-making in the digital world. Dr. de Vries was previously the Senior Director of Advanced Technology and Policy at Microsoft Corp., and a consultant at Korda & Co. He holds a D.Phil. in theoretical physics from the University of Oxford.
Preston F. Marshall (Google)
Preston F. Marshall is Principal Wireless Architect in Google Access. He has led Google’s effort in 3.5 GHz spectrum policy, and is the Project Manager for Google’s Spectrum Access System. He is co-founder, and co-chair of the Wireless Innovation Forum (WinnForum) 3.5 GHz multi-stakeholder group, which is developing interface standards and industry-wide practices for 3,5 GHz deployment. He is active in research and development of evolving networking concepts, wireless, cognitive radio and networking technologies, and supporting spectrum policy and technology. He has been heavily involved in wireless technology and policy, including participation in the 2012 PCAST Spectrum Study, serving as the technical witness during the U.S. House hearings on the PCAST recommendations. Before joining Google, Dr. Marshall was Deputy Director of the Information Sciences Institute (ISI) of the University of Southern California, and a Research Professor at USC’ in electrical engineering. For seven years, he was Program Manager with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for many of the DARPA wireless, cognitive radio, and networking programs. Dr. Marshall has written numerous articles, books and chapters on the subject of cognitive radio and spectrum issues. He is author of “Quantitative Analysis of Cognitive Radio and Network Performance” (2010) by ARTECH House and the recently released “Scalability, Density, Decision-Making in Cognitive Wireless Networks” (2013) by Cambridge University Press.
Kurt Schaubach (Federated Wireless)
Kurt Schaubach brings 25 years of wireless industry experience to Federated Wireless, where he plays a key role in developing technologies and new business strategies to create the next-generation architecture of broadband wireless. Previously, Mr. Schaubach served in various engineering roles at the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, NextWave Wireless, LCC International, and Southwestern Bell.He has also served as a technology consultant to wireless network operators, equipment manufacturers, and semiconductor suppliers. Mr. Schaubach was a founding member of a publicly traded wireless broadband and multimedia software company and led the acquisition and integration of two wireless infrastructure companies. He has been active in spectrum development, management, and policy matters throughout his career. He currently serves on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC). Mr. Schaubach received his BS and MS in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech.
Edward Drocella (Chief, Spectrum Engineering and Analysis Division, NTIA/OSM)
Edward Drocella is the Chief of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Office of Spectrum Management Spectrum Engineering and Analysis Division. Mr. Drocella has been with NTIA for twenty-three years. During his tenure with NTIA he has worked on various projects related to spectrum management, including reallocation of federal spectrum for emerging technologies, protection of the Global Positioning System radio frequency spectrum, software defined and cognitive radio technologies, ultrawideband technologies, and the protection of military radar systems by implementing new sharing technologies such as Dynamic Frequency Selection. Mr. Drocella is currently the Vice Chairman of the NTIA Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee and the Chairman of the Technical Subcommittee. Before joining NTIA, Mr. Drocella worked as a contractor for the Department of Defense. Mr. Drocella received his Bachelor of Science degree and Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Johns Hopkins University.
Petri Mähönen (Professor, Aachen University)
Before joining RWTH Aachen (Germany) in 2002, Petri Mähönen was a professor and research director at the Centre for Wireless Communications, Finland. He has studied and worked in the U.S., the UK and Scandinavia. Presently, Mähönen is full professor of wireless networks and head of iNet. His present research interests include cognitive wireless networks, embedded intelligence in wireless sensor networks, performance evaluation of complex networks, future network architectures, and more generally optimized and adaptive wireless communications. His work focuses principally on OSI–layers 2–4 in practical aspects, but he also performs more general methodology research which includes systems design, systems modeling and theoretical aspects. He has worked with students with multi–hop networks, WLANs (WiFi), and emergency communications solutions using optimization methods such as Genetic Algorithms, Simulated Annealing, and Statistical Physics inspired analytical methods. Mähönen has published 200 papers in international journals and peer–reviewed conferences and delivered a number of research talks at universities, companies, and conferences. He is a senior member of both IEEE and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), and a fellow of RAS. Mähönen has been inventor or co–inventor for over 20 patents or patent applications, virtually all developed in or with industry. In 2006, he was awarded a Telenor research prize. He also participates as a principal investigator in the newly established Ultra High Speed Mobile Information and Communications (UMIC) research cluster (centre) at RWTH, an excellence cluster funded by the Federal Government of Germany, and is a member of the steering board and a coordinator of Wireless Transport Research Area in the UMIC research center.
Saúl Torrico (Principal Scientist, Comsearch)
Saúl A. Torrico ’’received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering, in 1983 and 1992, respectively, and the Ph.D degree in electrophysics in 1998, all from The George Washington University, Washington D.C. Dr. Torrico joined Comsearch, an Andrew Company, in Ashburn, VA, in 1985, where he is currently Principal Scientist. He has been responsible for directing Comsearch’s efforts in research and development in the areas of radiowave propagation and system design pertinent to mobile communications systems, terrestrial microwave communications systems, and mobile satellite systems. He is a Professorial Lecturer at The George Washington University, Washington, D.C (2000–present). He has published articles on the topic of outdoor radiowave propagation. He is the co-author of a chapter for the Handbook on Antennas in Wireless Communications (CRC Press, 2002). Dr. Torrico is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Antenna & Propagation Society, the Vehicular Technology Society, and the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society. He is an elected Member of the International Scientific Radio Union (URSI/USNC) Commission F (Radio Wave Propagation and Remote Sensing) and the National Spectrum Managers Association (NSMA). He is a member of the New York Academy of Science.
Jeff Boksiner (Chief Engineer, Antennas and Spectrum Analysis Division, U.S. Army CERDEC)
Jeffrey Boksiner is the Chief Engineer for the Antennas and Spectrum Analysis Division at the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) Space & Terrestrial Communications Directorate (S&TCD). For CERDEC, he leads efforts on spectrum efficiency and effectiveness, including the work on Policy-Based Radio (PBR), Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) technologies, interference and propagation modeling, and the Spectrum Supportability Risk Assessments (SSRAs). Also, he carries out basic research on metamaterials and their application to antenna systems for tactical communications. Dr. Boksiner holds a PhD in Physics from Rutgers University and an MS and BS in electrical engineering from Polytechnic Institute of NYU. Prior to joining CERDEC, he was with Telcordia Technologies specializing in Spectrum Management, Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC), and electrical and RF safety. He has also held leadership positions in various standards activities including ITU, IEC, IEEE, and NFPA.
Paul McKenna (Electronics Engineer, Telecommunications Engineering, Analysis, and Modeling Division, NTIA/ITS)
Paul McKenna has been with NTIA’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) as an Electronics Engineer since 1998. From 1982 to 1998, Mr. McKenna held the position of Staff Scientist with Electro Magnetic Applications, Inc., in its Lakewood, CO, office. Mr. McKenna received an M.S. (Astro-Geophysics) from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1983 and an A.B. (Astronomy, m.c.l.) from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, in 1974. From 1974 to 1977, Mr. McKenna taught A- and O-level Physics and Mathematics at Nyeri High School in Nyeri, Kenya, as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. Mr. McKenna is a Member of the IEEE. He currently serves as the international chairman of the ITU-R Working Party 3K (Point-to-Area Propagation). Mr. McKenna’s work at ITS is generally concerned with the development and application of electromagnetic wave propagation predictive models, including both empirical and deterministic models employed in a wide variety of settings and applications. These models include the Okumura-Hata, the FCC-Carey Curves, the Irregular Terrain Model (ITM), the Terrain Integrated Rough Earth Model (TIREM), ITU-R Recommendations P.452 and P.1546, the Millimeter (Wave) Propagation Model (MPM), and the ITS-FAA-1977 (IF-77) model. In addition, Mr. McKenna’s work includes research and development on other computational electromagnetics models and methods, including Fresnel-Kirchhoff, Parabolic Equation, Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD), Ray Tracing and hybrid Integral Equation methods, as these apply to a range of wave propagation, scattering, and coupling problems.
Christopher R. Anderson (Associate Professor, United States Naval Academy)
Christopher R. Anderson received his, B.S.E.E, M.S.E.E., and Ph.D.E.E. from Virginia Tech, and is currently an Associate Professor at the United States Naval Academy (USNA), one of the four undergraduate-only Senior Military Academies in the United States. In 2008, he formed the Wireless Measurements Group at USNA, a focused research group specializing in wireless measurements, propagation measurements, and channel modeling. Under contracts from a variety of funding organizations, including NSF, DARPA, and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the group has developed numerous narrowband and broadband wireless measurement systems. The group has deployed these systems to perform wireless propagation measurements in a diverse set of indoor and outdoor environments at frequencies ranging from 300 MHz to 60 GHz. The results of these studies have been published in over 30 peer-reviewed conference and journal articles. Dr. Anderson’s current research efforts involve developing satellite instruments to monitor orbital micrometeroids, developing wireless sensor networks for radio tomographic imaging, low-to-ground outdoor propagation measurements and modeling, as well as coexistence studies between Navy radars and proposed LTE cellular systems. Sponsors in these efforts have included the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Naval Research Labs (NRL), the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), the Federal Railroad Administration, Google, and NASA. Dr. Anderson is currently an Editor for IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications under the Antennas, Channel Models, and Localization area, and has served as a Guest Editor for the IEEE Journal on Selected Topics in Signal Processing Special Issue on Non-Cooperative Localization Networks.
Bruce A. Naley (Electronics Engineer, Naval Surface Warfare Center/Dahlgren)
Mr. Naley graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1992 with a B.S. in Systems Engineering. He spent 10 years as an active duty Navy Officer. He received his MBA from Oklahoma City University and his Master in electrical engineering from Purdue University. He is an Engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division. He spent three years in Chemical and Biological Weapons Defense. Since 2004, he has been involved with Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3).
Edward M. Smith-Rowland (Alion Science and Technology)
Dr. Smith-Rowland received the Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics from the University of Oklahoma at Norman in 1986. He received the Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1996. After a four-year stint at CSC doing satellite orbit analysis for Goddard Space Flight Center he joined IIT Research Institute, building high-frequency antenna and inter antenna coupling models in support of the Joint Spectrum Center. When IITRI became Alion Science and Technology he stayed on, increasing his interest in terrestrial and urban propagation.
Frank H. Sanders (Chief, Telecommunications Engineering, Analysis, and Modeling Division, NTIA/ITS)
From 1979 to 1987, Sanders was a Junior Fellow with the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Boulder, CO. Since 1987 he has been an electronics engineer at ITS. He currently leads the Telecommunications Engineering, Analysis, and Modeling Division at the Institute. His research areas include advanced radio spectrum measurement techniques, radar emission measurement techniques, and effects of interference on radio receivers in general and radar receivers in particular. Sanders is a Colorado native who received a B.A in physics from the University of Colorado in 1987.
Chriss A. Hammerschmidt (Electronics Engineer, Spectrum and Propagation Measurements Division, NTIA/ITS)
Chriss joined NTIA/ITS in 2010. She is currently involved with spectrum surveys, propagation measurements, and soil permittivity and conductivity material measurements. Prior to joining ITS ITS, she was with NIST from 1990 to 2010. During her time at NIST she worked in the area of material measurements using stripline cavities, coaxial airlines, Fabry-Perot resonators, and free-field, time-domain systems. She has also worked in the noise temperature project assembling and running measurement systems. She then moved to the Time-Domain project where she worked on measuring the shielding effectiveness of aircraft, including the orbiter Endeavour. Chriss received a bronze medal for her work on the Endeavour project. Chriss has a B.A. degree in physics and an M.S. degree in electrical engineering, both from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Robert Johnk (Electronics Engineer, Telecommunications Theory Division, NTIA/ITS)
Bob Johnk received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Colorado in 1990, where he specialized in electromagnetics, propagation, and antennas. Bob is currently an electronics engineer at the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (NTIA/ITS) where he is engaged in public safety radio and mobile radio propagation research. Prior to joining NTIA/ITS in 2007, he was with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado, for 17 years where he was the leader of the time-domain fields project. Bob has received best paper awards from the IEEE EMC Society, NIST, and NTIA. In 2011, Bob received a technical achievement award from the IEEE EMC Society in 2011 for his work “in the development of free-space time-domain measurement techniques.”
Michael G. Cotton (Electronics Engineer, Telecommunications Theory Division, NTIA/ITS)
Mr. Cotton joined NTIA/ITS in 1992. At ITS, he has been involved in a broad range of research topics including applied electromagnetics, radio channel measurement and theory, interference effects on digital receivers, and noise measurement. Cotton is a project leader and has authored or co–authored over twenty technical publications. In 2002, he earned the DOC Gold Medal Award for research and engineering achievement in the development of national policies for UWB technologies. Cotton received a B.S. degree in aerospace engineering in 1992 and an M.S. degree in electrical engineering with an emphasis on electromagnetics in 1999, both from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Kate Remley (Electronics Engineer, NIST Communications Technology Laboratory)
Kate Remley received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Oregon State University, Corvallis, in 1999. From 1983 to 1992, she was a Broadcast Engineer in Eugene, OR, serving as Chief Engineer of an AM/FM broadcast station from 1989-1991. In 1999, she joined the Electromagnetics Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Boulder, CO, as an Electronics Engineer. She is currently the leader of the Metrology for Wireless Systems Project at NIST, where her research activities include development of calibrated measurements for microwave and millimeter-wave wireless systems, characterizing the link between nonlinear circuits and system performance, and developing standardized test methods for RF equipment used by the public-safety community. Dr. Remley was the recipient of the Department of Commerce Bronze and Silver Medals, an ARFTG Best Paper Award, and is a member of the Oregon State University Academy of Distinguished Engineers. She was the Chair of the MTT-11 Technical Committee on Microwave Measurements from 2008 to 2010 and the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Microwave Magazine from 2009 to 2011, and is the Vice Chair of the MTT Fellow Committee.
Meredith Baker (President and CEO, CTIA-The Wireless Association)
Meredith Attwell Baker joined CTIA-The Wireless Association as its President and CEO in June 2014. She brings extensive experience on spectrum issues and wireless policy and a keen understanding of how government and business must work together to drive innovation. Prior to joining CTIA, Mrs. Baker served as the Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at Comcast NBCUniversal where she was responsible for developing policy positions on legislative and regulatory issues and representing those positions before the U.S. Congress, the Administration and government agencies. Appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009, Mrs. Baker served as a Commissioner to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) until June 2011. During her tenure, she championed a forward-looking approach to spectrum management issues as well as a flexible regulatory environment to encourage continued innovation and competition in the technology and telecommunications industries. Prior to joining the FCC, Mrs. Baker served in the Bush Administration as the Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information as well as the Acting Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). While at NTIA, she facilitated the nation’s historic transition to digital television, which freed commercial spectrum for wireless companies, and promoted market-based policies that encouraged innovation; served on delegations representing the United States at major international telecommunications conferences; and engaged in bilateral discussions with senior level officials from countries around the world to encourage investment in the United States. Mrs. Baker holds a B.A. from Washington & Lee University and a law degree from the University of Houston. She is a member of the Texas State Bar.
John Chapin (Program Manager, DARPA Strategic Technologies Office)
John Chapin is a Program Manager in the Strategic Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He joined DARPA in August 2011. His areas of focus include advanced wireless systems and associated spectrum access and spectrum sharing technologies. He earlier spent nine years in technical leadership roles at Vanu, Inc., a provider of software-designed radio (SDR) based cellular radio access networks. His work there on SDR and cognitive radio earned multiple awards including IEEE DySPAN best paper, SDR Forum best paper, and SDR Forum Industry Achievement Award. Prior to Vanu he was on the faculty of the Electric Engineering and Computer Science department of MIT, where his research earned the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). He served as chairman of the SDR Forum from 2007 to 2009 and has been a member of the Federal Communications Commission Technological Advisory Council since its inception.
Mark McHenry (President, Shared Spectrum Corporation)
Mark A. McHenry has extensive experience in military and commercial communication systems design, including research on the next generation of advanced wireless networks. He founded two high-tech wireless research and development companies. In 2000, he founded Shared Spectrum Company (SSC), which is developing automated spectrum sharing technology. Shared Spectrum Company develops advanced technologies for government and industry customers with challenging radio frequency and networking needs. It specializes in dynamic spectrum management applications. McHenry was also a co-founder of San Diego Research Center, Incorporated, (SDRC) that focused on DoD test and training systems. SDRC was acquired by Argon ST in 2006. McHenry was a Program Manager at DARPA, where he managed multiple tactical wireless related programs. He received the Office of Secretary of Defense Award for Outstanding Achievement in 1997, and the Office of Secretary of Defense Award for Exceptional Public Service in 2000 and was named Engineer of the Year by the District of Columbia Council of Engineering and Architectural Societies in February, 2006. McHenry was an engineer at SRI International, Northrop Advanced Systems, McDonnell Douglas Astronautics, Hughes Aircraft and Ford Aerospace. He was appointed by Secretary of Commerce, Carlos Gutierrez, to serve as a member of the Commerce Spectrum Advisory Committee, in December 2006. McHenry received a B.S. in engineering and applied science from the California Institute of Technology, an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
Tom Rondeau (University of Pennsylvania)
Tom Rondeau’s main interest is in developing better communications capabilities. With a balance of academic work as a visiting researcher with the University of Pennsylvania and private consulting work through his firm Rondeau Research, Mr. Rondeau has found free and open source software to be about the best mix of both worlds. In his role as maintainer and project lead of GNU Radio, he gets to develop, explore, and educate new ways to process, observe, and think about signals and electromagnetic waves.
Milind Buddhikot (Alcatel-Lucent)
Milind M. Buddhikot is currently a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff (DMTS) in Alcatel-Lucent Bell Laboratories, where he conducts research in next generation of wireless networks. In a research career spanning 22+ years, he has made significant contributions, scientifically as well as to the business aspects of wireless, IP and multi-media networking. Mr. Buddhikot’s recent work is in the area of high capacity wireless networks, in particular small cells that exploit shared spectrum via dynamic spectrum access (DSA) technologies. He has authored 45+ technical papers and holds 15 U.S. or international patents. According to Google Scholar, Mr. Buddhikot’s research publications have recorded 5000+ citations and are well recognized within the research community. Two concepts he pioneered and researched, namely the concept of database coordinated dynamic spectrum access (2004) and ultra-broadband small cells using shared spectrum (2009) have now emerged as promising new technology and spectrum policy directions. Mr. Buddhikot is a recipient of the Bell Labs President’s Silver Award for outstanding innovations and contributions (2003), Bell Labs Team Award (2003), Lucent Chairman’s Team Award (2006) and DMTS award (2012). He is a co-founder of the IEEE DySPAN symposium which has emerged as a premier conference on the topic of Dynamic Spectrum Access. He has served as an Associate Editor of IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking and Elsevier’s Computer Networks Journal, secured 1.2+ million dollars in research funding and regularly participates in FCC, NSF and conference panels and TPC committees of major IEEE and ACM conferences. Mr. Buddhikot has frequently delivered invited presentations and tutorials on future technology directions to audiences in top-tier research forums and trade shows and to business customers world-wide.
Phil Fleming (Nokia Solutions and Networks)
Phil Fleming is CTO of the North America Market for NSN. He has broad experience in wireless communication technologies and special expertise in converting research and advanced technology concepts into business value for wireless equipment suppliers and operators. He currently holds 18 U.S. patents and he is co-author on 12 journal publications and numerous conference papers in a variety of technology areas related to wireless communications. Dr. Fleming earned his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) in 1981 and started his engineering career in 1982 at Bell Laboratories where he was named Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff in 1990. He joined Motorola in 1991 and was awarded the title of Dan Noble Fellow in 2007. While at Motorola, he was Fellow of the Technical Staff and Senior Director of the Advanced Radio Technology and Engineering team from 2005 to 2011 in the Network Advanced Technologies organization and was responsible for radio access standards, algorithms and advanced RAN development of WiMAX and LTE. In 2011, he and his team joined Nokia Networks’ CTO office where they designed and developed advanced radio access algorithms and architectures, most recently focused on dense radio deployments such as urban centers, stadiums and other special venues. In January 2013, he was appointed Head of the Advanced Technologies group in NSN’s Technology and Innovations organization responsible for acceleration of research and forward-looking concepts into products across Nokia Networks business lines.
Thomas Sawanobori (Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, CTIA)
Thomas (Tom) Sawanobori is CTIA’s first Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. He is responsible for technology and technical matters concerning spectrum, network evolution, cybersecurity and other technical areas to aid CTIA’s members and as a technical resource to policy makers. He has over 20 years of technology planning, network engineering, and operational experience for Verizon, including lead planner for Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network. Mr. Sawanobori was Vice President of Network Planning at Verizon, where he was responsible for technology planning and capital budget management. He led the technology evolution of the network including spectrum planning, 3G/4G technology, LTE and LTE-Advanced, core network evolution, and enablement of new services such as VoLTE. In addition to his 22 years at Verizon, he served in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve completing his 20 years as Commander. He was also a member of the Hughes Electronics Technical Staff. Mr. Sawanobori holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University and a Master of Engineering from California State University-Fullerton.
Rangam Subramanian (Electronics Engineer, Strategic Planning Division, NTIA/OSM)
Rangam Subramanian is a technology strategy, spectrum policy, business development and general management professional, with over 22 years of experience in telecommunications. He is currently serving the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) within the U.S. Department of Commerce as a lead technology and spectrum policy strategist. Dr. Subramanian is focused on national spectrum strategy and the related rulemaking to enable collaborative next generation wireless communications technology development and implementation that is critical to national economic development and security. Prior to joining NTIA, Dr. Subramanian served the Idaho National Laboratory as a Chief of Technology and Business strategy. In his previous work with the industry, he has made significant contributions to technology innovation, business strategy, R&D, operations management, mergers and acquisitions, telecom network services, and international customer management. In 2012, Dr. Subramanian delivered U.S. Congressional testimony on “Avoiding the Spectrum Crunch: Growing the Wireless Economy through Innovation”. He is a serving member of the White House Office of cience and Technology Policy (OSTP)/National Information Technology R&D (NITRD) initiated Wireless Spectrum Sharing R&D (WSRD) Senior Steering Group (SSG.) Dr. Subramanian holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL and a PhD in Computer Science & Systems Engineering from Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA.
Howard McDonald (Branch Chief, DSO Systems and Technology Branch)
Howard McDonald joined the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Defense Spectrum Organization (DSO) in December 2008 after a 23 year career in private industry addressing a wide variety of challenges associated with DoD spectrum operations. He has successfully guided multidisciplinary teams to perform electromagnetic environmental effects and spectrum management related activities at all phases of the equipment life cycle. As the Branch Chief for DSO’s Systems and Technology Branch, he currently leads DSO’s efforts to address the impacts of emerging technologies, including Dynamic Spectrum Access and Policy-Based Spectrum Management, on DoD spectrum operations.
Jeffrey H. Reed (Professor, Virginia Tech)
Jeffrey Reed is the founder of Wireless@Virginia Tech and served as its Director until 2014. He is the Founding Faculty member of the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology and served as its interim Director when it was founded in 2010. His book, Software Radio: A Modern Approach to Radio Design was published by Prentice Hall and his latest textbook Cellular Communications: A Comprehensive and Practical Guide was published by Wiley-IEEE in 2014. He is co-founder of Cognitive Radio Technologies, a company commercializing cognitive radio technologies; Allied Communications, a company developing technologies for spectrum sharing; and for PFP Cybersecurity, a company specializing in security for embedded systems. In 2005, Dr. Reed became Fellow to the IEEE for contributions to software radio, communications signal processing, and for leadership in engineering education. In 2013 he was awarded the International Achievement Award by the Wireless Innovations Forum for his work in software radio. In 2012 he served on the advisory group supporting the President’s Council of Advisors of Science and Technology to examine ways to transition federal spectrum to allow commercial use and improve economic activity. Dr. Reed is a member of CSMAC, a group that provides advice to the NTIA on spectrum issues.
Jim Lansford (Adjunct Professor, University of Colorado)
Jim Lansford is a Fellow in the Global Standards Group at Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR), responsible for Wi-Fi standards and strategy. He has over 35 years of experience in communications systems, digital signal processing, and strategic business development. He has been Chief Technology Officer of three wireless startups and has held senior technical positions at several established wireless technology companies. Dr. Lansford is currently vice-chair of the Wireless Next Generation Standing Committee as well as chairing a Tiger Team on coexistence between DSRC and unlicensed WLAN technologies in IEEE 802.11. In the Wi-Fi Alliance, he chairs the Automotive and the Long Term Strategy groups and is vice-chair of the Wi-Fi SensorNet group. He is also active as an Adjunct Professor in the graduate Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Yongbin Wei (Director of Engineering, Qualcomm)
Yongbin Wei is a Director of Engineering with Qualcomm Incorporated, where he has been working on LTE and LTE-advanced since 2006, including system design, standardization, and implementation. Prior to that, he was involved in the system design and international standardization of cdma2000 Rev. C and Rev. D. and in product development. He received his Bachelor and Master degrees from the University of Science and Technology of China, and Ph.D. degree from Purdue University, all in Electrical Engineering. He holds 65 U.S. issued patents.
Bryan Tramont (Managing Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP)
Bryan Tramont, the managing partner of Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP, offers strategic counsel to Fortune 100 companies and trade associations, as well as small and mid-sized telecommunications and media companies, on all aspects of communications law and regulation. Mr. Tramont has been recognized by leading publications like Legal 500, Chambers USA, and Washingtonian as one of the nation’s top communications lawyers. In 2014, he was named one of the Top 100 Washington, DC Super Lawyers. Tramont serves on the Commerce Department Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) and previously co-chaired the Committee for three years. He is an adjunct Professor of Law at Catholic University of America and serves as a Senior Adjunct Fellow at the University of Colorado School of Law. He has also served in numerous leadership positions for the Federal Communications Bar Association, including President for 2010-2011.
Julius Knapp (Chief, FCC Office of Engineering & Technology)
Julius Knapp is Chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET). OET is the Commission’s primary resource for engineering expertise and provides technical support to the Chairman, Commissioners, and FCC Bureaus and Offices. Mr. Knapp has been with the FCC for more than 40 years. He became Chief of OET in 2006. Mr. Knapp previously served as a Deputy Chief of OET from 2002 to 2006. Prior to that he was the Chief of the Policy & Rules Division where he was responsible for FCC frequency allocation proceedings and for proceedings amending the FCC rules for radio frequency devices. From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Knapp was Chief of the FCC Laboratory, where he was responsible for the FCC’s equipment authorization program and technical analyses. Mr. Knapp received a Bachelor in electrical engineering from the City College of New York in 1974. He has received the FCC’s Silver and Gold medal awards for distinguished service at the Commission. He was the 2001 recipient of the Eugene C. Bowler award for exceptional professionalism and dedication to public service. He was the 2010 recipient of the Federal Communications Bar Association Excellence in Government Service Award and the recipient of the WCAI 2010 government Leadership award. In 2013 he received the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award for exceptional achievement in the career Senior Executive Service of the United States of America. He received the 2014 Fellow Award from the National Spectrum Management Association.
Dennis A. Roberson (Vice Provost, Corporate Relations and Strategic Initiatives/Research Professor, Computer Science, Illinois Institute of Technology)
Dennis Roberson has been Vice Provost and Research Professor with the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) since June 2003, where he established a new undergraduate business school, a wireless research center (WiNCom), IIT’s corporate relations initiative, and is responsible for IIT’s strategic plan and associated initiatives. Professor Roberson is also President, CEO and Member of Roberson and Associates, LLC, a technology and consulting firm serving a variety of government and commercial customers since 2008. From April 1998 to April 2004, Professor Roberson was Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of Motorola, Inc. From 1971 to 1998, he held senior executive positions with NCR Corporation, AT&T, Digital Equipment Corp. (now part of Hewlett Packard) and IBM. Professor Roberson is a Director of Advanced Diamond Technologies, Cleversafe, Caerus Institute, and Sun Phocus Technologies, LLC. He also serves on the U.S. Federal Communication Commission’s Technology Advisory Council and the U.S. Commerce Department’s Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC), the Board of Directors of FIRST Robotics, the National Advisory Council for the Boy Scouts of America and as an International Advisory Panel member for the Prime Minister of Malaysia. He holds Bachelor of Science Degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering from Washington State University and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
Paige Atkins (Associate Administrator, NTIA Office of Spectrum Management)
Paige Atkins is Associate Administrator, Office of Spectrum Management (OSM), within the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Ms. Atkins leads spectrum management efforts for the executive branch agencies and manages engineering, frequency assignment and certification, national and international spectrum policy, and strategic planning functions. Her recent efforts have focused on President Obama’s call to identify 500 megahertz for wireless broadband and to increase spectrum sharing and industry/government collaboration as tools for providing spectrum access. Prior to joining NTIA, she was the Vice President of Cyber and Information Technology Research at the Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation, where she led a broad portfolio of research, including efforts to mature and demonstrate spectrum sharing approaches and technologies. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, Ms. Atkins served as Director for Strategic Planning and Information, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), leading the development and execution of resourcing strategies, business practices and strategic alliances to provide enhanced information and communications capabilities and services to our nation’s warfighters and national leadership. She joined DISA in 2006 as the Director of the Defense Spectrum Organization. In that role, she provided executive leadership to DoD’s center of excellence for electromagnetic spectrum engineering and management, policy development, information systems, modeling and simulation, and operations support. Prior to DISA, Ms. Atkins served in several industry and government leadership and engineering roles within Cisco Systems, Inc., Scitor Corporation, the DoD Joint Spectrum Center, and Gould Ocean Systems Division. In 2011 Ms. Atkins was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service, and she has been selected to support multiple Defense Science and Business Boards addressing spectrum management challenges and opportunities. She holds a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech and a Master of Science in engineering administration from George Washington University.
Fred Moorefield (Director of Spectrum Policy & Programs for the DOD/CIO)
Fredrick “Fred” Moorefield is currently serving as the Director of Spectrum Policy & Programs for the Department of Defense (DoD) Chief Information Officer (CIO). His primary duty is the development and oversight of the DoD’s spectrum policy and their strategic plans, which ensure efficient and effective use of the electromagnetic spectrum. He leads the development and representation of DoD positions in national and international forums and provides program oversight for spectrum resource management programs. He has served in this position since October 2012. Mr. Moorefield joined Federal service in 1989, starting in the Air Force as a civil servant where he served for 19 years doing research, development and acquisition. Later, he also served in DISA at the Joint Spectrum Center for four years where he was first introduced to spectrum management. Mr. Moorefield’s education includes a Bachelor in mathematics from Wilberforce University, located in Wilberforce, Ohio, and a Bachelor and a Master in electrical engineering from the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio.