Monday, October 19, 2015

Antenna Measurement Techniques Association 2015 Student Day

What: AMTA (Antenna Measurement Techniques Association) 2015 Student Day
Where: Hyatt Regency Long Beach, 200 South Pine Ave., Long Beach, CA
When: Tuesday, October 13, 2015, 11:30 AM - 6:15 PM
Who: Undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in electromagnetics, antennas or anyone interested in networking with members of industry, government and academia.



AMTA Student Day 2015 in Long Beach, CA was a day to remember. We had approximately 10 students from our IEEE Foothill section schools Cal Poly Pomona and UC Riverside. There were also students from Cal State Northridge, UCIrvine and UCLA. AMTA provided 2 great speakers for the students. First was Brian Kent, Ph. D. from ARA (Applied Research Associates) who spoke on the Space Shuttle Return to Flight effort which focused primarily on RADAR systems to help track launch debris. The second speaker was Dr. Yahya Rahmat-Samii from UCLA and a well known expert in Antenna Design and Analysis. Along with the talks the students were given special presentations by four manufacturers in the Exhibit Hall and they participated in a hands-on antenna design competition where the students had to design. fabricate and test a helical antenna. The group that won the challenge was Cal State Northridge. Many thanks to Pat Pelland and his AMTA colleagues from NearField Systems in Torrance, CA for coordinating the AMTA student day.