Group - WiDE LAB - ERAU

Faculty

Eduardo Rojas-Nastrucci earned his B.S. degree from the Universidad de Carabobo, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of South Florida, all in Electrical Engineering; in 2009, 2014 and 2017, respectively. He joined the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2017, where he is currently an assistant professor. His research interests are in the area of microwave/mm-wave circuits and antenna applications of additive manufacturing; and wireless sensing for harsh environments. Rojas is the Director of ERAU’s Wireless Devices and Electromagnetics Laboratory (WIDE Lab www.wide-lab.com). He was the recipient of a CAREER Award from The National Science Foundation in 2019. Rojas has more than 30 peer-reviewed publications, and he is a reviewer for the IEEE MTT-S Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques and Proceedings of the IEEE, among other prestigious journals. Rojas has 4 U.S. patents and is a member of the IEEE MTT-S Technical Committee 26 on RFID, Wireless Sensor and IoT, and the RTCA SC-236 committee for Standards for Wireless Avionics Intra-Communication System (WAIC) within 4200-4400 MHz.

Ph.D. Students

Noemí Miguélez Gómez was born in Barcelona, Spain, where she earned his bachelor's in Telecommunications Engineering at UPC-BarcelonaTech in 2017. She joined Embry-Riddle in 2017, where she finished her Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2019 and will start her PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2020. Prior coming to ERAU, Miguélez was working in the nanosatellite and payload laboratory at BarcelonaTech in the development of a flexible microwave payload for Earth observation for a 1U CubeSat. The nanosatellite is planned to be launched in 2020 as part of the "Fly your Satellite II!" program from the Educational Office of the European Space Agency (ESA). During her master's, she worked at the Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Lab (SAIL) as the ERAU’s student team leader of a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR): "Integrated Measurement and Modeling Characterization of Stratospheric Turbulence". The ERAU team worked in the design, implementation and testing of high-altitude balloon communications and controlled descent systems to resolve questions related to how future hypersonic vehicle designs can account for the effects of ambient atmospheric turbulence and particles in the middle stratosphere. Parallelly, Miguélez worked in the design and development of a network of dual-frequency GNSS systems for ionospheric disturbances analysis.

By the end of her master's, she started collaborating in research of deployment mechanism and additive manufacturing applications for small satellites antennas as part of the Wireless Devices and Electromagnetics Laboratory (WiDE Lab), where she will be a research assistant during her PhD. This research was proposed to the IEEE MTT-Sat Challenge in 2019, in which the ERAU team was selected and Miguélez is currently the student's team leader. At the same time, Miguélez is participating in a project-collaboration of the WiDE Lab with L3Harris to deploy a series of experiments in the International Space Station (ISS) for radiation analysis purposes. Her tasks are focused on the design and development of a S-band transmitter that will be on-board, with data backup capabilities of the in-situ measurements.
From the very beginning of her studies until nowadays, Miguélez interests have been focused on RF design, communications/wireless systems, space instrumentation and systems and programming.

Carlos R Mejías M. is a Ph.D. student in the Electrical Engineer and Computer Science Program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Master in Electrical Engineering from the Universidad de Carabobo, Valencia, Venezuela, earned in 2008 and 2014 respectively.

He spent nine years working as Associate Professor in the School of Telecommunication Engineering at the Universidad de Carabobo, Venezuela. During five years, he worked on Digital Processing Signal, RF circuits, and Digital Communication Systems.

From 2012 to 2014, he was Head of the Department of Signal and Systems Department. Then, he became the Director of the School of Telecommunication Engineering at the Universidad de Carabobo, Venezuela where he spent two years in that position.

Now, he is a member of the WiDE Lab group at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL, where his research is focused on additively manufactured Microwave Circuits and Antennas.

Seng Loong "Hanson" Yu received his B.S. in electrical engineering from University of South Florida in 2015; and his M.S. in electrical engineering from San Jose State University in 2017. During his time at University of South Florida, he was an undergraduate research assistant in the Center for Wireless and Microwave Information Systems (WAMI) lab. While at San Jose State University, he studied CMOS RF and analog IC design and was a lab instructor for the undergraduate electronics course.

His current research interests are in additive manufactured RF/mm-wave circuits and antennas. He is exploring potential materials that can help miniaturize and tune the characteristics of passive devices. Other than that, he is also developing novel manufacturing techniques such as conformal LE-DPAM. His other research interests are the design of SAW/BAW filters and MMICs.

He is currently a PhD student in electrical engineering and computer science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL where he conducts his research in the Wireless Devices and Electromagnetics (WiDE) Lab (www.wide-lab.com). He has helped revamped the RF engineering course in the university while also being the lab instructor for the course.

Starting in January 2020, he will be a R&D BAW intern at Qorvo, Inc. where he will developing highly integrated filter modules using advanced packaging for mobile communications.

Master Students

Daniel Sommer obtained his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Daytona Beach Florida. Prior to coming to Embry Riddle, he lived in New York City where he attended Aviation High School (AVHS). He spent five years at AVHS enrolled in a special program to allow for him to obtain both his Airframe and Powerplant ratings with the Federal Aviation Administration, which encouraged him to attend ERAU. While up in New York, Daniel was engaged in several scouting groups. Here, he became an Eagle Scout with Troop 235 in Whitestone, New York in January 2012, and later joined Venturing Crew 473, the longest living crew in the country, where he became their president for a year. He was also nominated into the Order of the Arrow, achieving their highest recognition, Vigil Honor, in April 2014. He is still involved in the Venturing Crew as an adult.

After studying to become an aircraft mechanic, he had an understanding of the way aircraft worked, leading him to ERAU in 2015. While down here, he and his father decided to enter the real estate market, where the two currently own and operate a company with over half a million in assets, buying, renting, and selling local real estate. Currently on the ERAU campus, he is part of the Experimental Rocket Propulsion Lab, namely the Pavonis Division. Here, he is working with a group of undergrad students to create a Hall-Thruster, specifically on the electrical aspect and data collection. As of April 2018, he is a part of Wide-Lab.

He is expected to graduate in May 2019 with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and an Associates Degree in Aviation Maintenance Science. After this, he plans on going for his Masters in Electrical Engineering at ERAU and working with Wide-Lab.

Diego Rincon is a graduate student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL where he received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 2018.

Diego enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 2009 where he attained his military occupational specialty as an air traffic control radar technician receiving a Meritorious Mast for graduating in the top 1% of his class. His service in the Corps was where he developed his interest in RF and became a level II certified technician for ground based radar equipment that supported air traffic control operations at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH), Kaneohe Bay, HI. While there, he provided technical assistance during (4) FAA Flight Inspections, (2) Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) operations, an Air Show supporting the Blue Angels, and numerous military training and rescue missions. From 2013 to 2014 he served as Radar and Meteorological Maintenance Chief of the Air Traffic Control Maintenance Division aboard MCAS. In his time there he maintained accountability and availability of all radar equipment that resulted in over 13,600 hours of 100% continuous operability. Diego separated from the Marine Corps in 2014 with an honorable discharge as a Sergeant of Marines.

Deciding to continue his passion for RF he enrolled into the Electrical engineering program at Embry-Riddle in the spring of 2015. He became involved with IEEE becoming the secretary for the University’s IEEE Eta Kappa Nu honor society before his promotion and current position as Vice President of the club in 2016. Diego also involved himself with the Radar and Microwaves lab working part time for Dr. William Barott as a research assistant.

Now, he is a member of the WiDE Lab group at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where his research interests include fly-by-wireless, RF/Antenna design, and 3-D printed techniques and application to RF.

Kevin Pepin

Justin Parkhurst

Undergraduate Students

Sofia Mvokany is pursuing her bachelor’s in electrical engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). Prior to attending ERAU, she acquired an Associates degree in Engineering Science at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) in New York City. In 2016, she joined the CUNY Research Scholars Program (CRSP), a program that encourages high-achieving community college students to participate in faculty-mentored research, through which she worked for a full year on “Quantum Dots in 2-D TMDC materials”. Through CRSP, she discovered a real interest into research so when she moved to Daytona Beach, FL to attend ERAU, she was eager to get back in a lab.

In May 2018, she won a grant from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the National Science Foundation, through IMS Project Connect 2019, that gave her the opportunity to participate to the 2019 International Microwave Symposium (IMS) in Boston, Massachusetts. After the symposium, she joined the Wireless Devices and Electromagnetics Lab (WiDE) to work on laser micromachinings. Her story was featured on ERAU news in August 2019.

John I. Sahr is studying for a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, with a specialization in astronautics, and a minor in computational mathematics. He joined the WiDE Lab team with a background gained from working with OneRadio Corporation, a startup in his hometown of Seattle, Washington.

Though not an electrical engineer, he is bringing his knowledge as a student of aerospace engineering into the lab through his work in developing and enacting testing protocols to qualify the radio equipment manufactured in the lab for space flight. He is also working to install, set up, and operate a ground-station for communicating with satellites and the International Space Station.

Isabella DeLorenzo

Alumni

Currently at: United Launch Alliance.
Nicholas Moline obtained his BS in Electrical Engineering in 2020. Immediately after starting his education at Embry-Riddle, Nicholas became heavily involved in several student clubs and projects. He joined the Robotics Association at Embry-Riddle (RAER) where he was worked with the electrical team for the NASA Robotic Mining Competition. He then served as the projects’ team lead for a year as well as leading the redesign of the robot’s electrical subsystems. He was also involved with the Spacecraft Development Club where he acted as the On-board Computing Subsystem lead for their 1u cubeSat project, RADsat, and the Avionics subsystem lead for the Pathfinder IX project through the Embry-Riddle Future Space Explorers and Developers Society (ERFSEDS).

Nicholas’s professional experience includes working on the Regolith Vibration and Compaction System (ReVACS), a NASA KSC kickstart project intended to explore novel ways of utilizing Lunar resources for construction, working as an electronics package test engineering intern with Lockheed Martin’s Fleet Ballistic Missile program, and interning with United Launch Alliance within the launch operations group.

Nicholas is now working in the Wireless Devices and Electronics (WiDE) Lab under Dr. Eduardo Rojas where his work primarily includes the development of a sensor to measure the location of liquid propellants inside a tank, and support of the MTT Sat Challenge.

Currently at: Qorvo
Dilara Boyaci was born in Turkey in 1994. She received her B.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Istanbul Commerce University, Turkey, in 2017. She also studied at the department of Electrical Engineering at Schmalkalden University of Applied Sciences in Thuringia, Germany.

During her time at Istanbul Commerce University, she also wrote a paper for ACES conference on microstrip patch antennas in 2017 that later on got published by IEEE. She is currently attending her masters degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida where she also teaches electrical engineering labs as a TA. Her current research interests include antennas, RF and microwave circuits.

Eric Osorio is a skilled VR/AR/XR developer with a demonstrated history of creating professional level software. Eric’s belief in taking personal responsibility for solving problems and taking change into his own hands has led him to many accomplishments. During his time at Embry-Riddle, he rounded up enough of his peers to start a chapter of the College Democrats and led the organization as the first president. He directed the Makerspace Lab XR department run by Engineering Fundamentals and helped shape the department into a software development service offered to student and faculty projects at Embry-Riddle. He also ran the Dean of Engineering’s VR lab supported by Gulfstream and Northrop Grumman.

He is now a member of the WiDE Lab group at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he is developing an augmented reality mobile app to allow students and researchers to see the invisible. The app allows students to use their mobile devices as a window into the world of electromagnetism so the fields they are studying can be seen and worked with in 3D.

Eric was named Embry-Riddle Engineering Fundamentals Student of the Year, 2018. He is pursuing his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in Robotic Systems Design and a Minor in Applied Mathematics.