IEEE Microwave Magazine - May 2017 - 74

chance to meet and talk to the panelists as
well as other women in the field. We are
also debuting a special technical session
titled "Women in Defense," which will
showcase the work of some of the leading
women microwave engineers working in
the defense field. Please see the WIM page
at www.ims2017.org for more information.

Project Connect
Introduced in 2014, the Project Connect program provides outreach to
underrepresented minority groups in
the microwave field. Approximately 30
undergraduate and graduate student
applicants will be given the chance to
attend IMS2017 through a travel grant.
They will then participate in a threeday agenda designed to expose them
to the microwave engineering community through a series of professional
panel and networking sessions. Please
see the Project Connect page at www
.ims2017.org for more information.

IMS2017 RF Boot Camp

The first-ever IMS Hackathon will be a
fast-paced competition where participants
will use basic microwave theory and
design techniques to build a simple device
on the fly. The design specifics will not be
announced until the start of the event, and
competitors are not allowed to use any
computer-aided design software or tools
other than a calculator and Internet references. Please see the Hackathon page at
www.ims2017.org for more information.

Three Minute Thesis
IMS2017 will also be introducing the
Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT).
Eligible students and young professionals who have had a paper accepted to
the IMS and have opted to participate
will give a three-minute presentation aided

only by a single static slide. The language of the presentation will be aimed
at a nonspecialist audience. The goal of
the competition is to encourage accessible and engaging presentation skills,
which are crucial for professional development regardless of one's career
path. Please see the 3MT page at www
.ims2017.org for more information.

Find Your Focus
It is my hope, and the hope of this year's
Steering Committee, that whatever
event you attend or program you participate in, it will inspire, encourage,
teach, and excite you. We hope that,
in addition to technical and academic
enrichment, you will find something
that enriches you personally and professionally. Above all we hope that you
enjoy IMS2017 and everything it has
to offer.
See you in Honolulu!

(continued from page 67)

Newcomers to the microwave field
and nonengineering professionals are
unlikely to have had such an unusual
final exam experience, and RF Boot Camp
may be a perfect way for someone to
spend a day getting better oriented to the
terminology and technology and maybe
even "catch the wave" and develop a passion for this exciting field. And, yes, we
will talk about Smith charts! (Or as one of
my professors used to say, "We will refer
now to Uncle Smith.")
As with the IMS2015 and IMS2016 RF
Boot Camps, the content will draw heavily from Keysight Technologies' "Back to
Basics" series of tutorial material as well
as selected content from the University of
South Florida's Center for Wireless and
Microwave Information Systems course
materials. Modern simulation-based design

IMS Hackathon

TABLE 1. IMS2017 RF
Boot Camp agenda.
Topic
The RF/microwave signal chain
Network characteristics, analysis, and
measurement
Fundamentals of RF simulation
Impedance-matching and device-modeling
basics
Signal generation
Modulation and vector signal analysis
Spectral analysis
Microwave antenna basics
Understanding basic RF analog receiver
design and analysis
Introduction to radar and radar
measurements

approaches will be demonstrated using
Advanced Design Software from Keysight and advanced simulation models
from Modelithics, Inc.
Table 1 outlines the topical agenda for
RF Boot Camp at IMS2017. The full-day
course (to be held on Monday, 5 June) will
begin with an overview of the RF signal
chain followed by talks on network analysis, RF simulation, matching, and devicemodeling basics. Signal generation and
analysis will round out the morning's topics. The afternoon session will cover spectral analysis, antennas, microwave receiver
basics, and an introduction to radar.
We encourage you to participate,
joining us for an extremely informative
and fun-filled day of "basic training"
in RF and microwave technology. See
you in Hawai'i!

May 2017

http://www.ims2017.org http://www.17.org http://www.ims2017.org http://www.ims2017.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Microwave Magazine - May 2017