Last updated: 29 January 2010
Jamesina J. Simpson, Ph.D.
   
Assistant Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
B.S. 2003, Ph.D. 2007
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Licensed Amateur Radio Operator
Extra Class, Callsign: AB9HZ
Contact Info Teaching Experience Refereed Conference Proceedings Biographical Sketch Professional Society Memberships         Other Presentations Research Interests Academic Service Leadership Experience Awards, Honors, & Support         Invited Talks Links Students Book Chapters           Recommended Reading Student Alumni Refereed Journal Publications Personal -> back to contentEmail: simpson at ece dot unm dot edu
Office: Electrical and Computer Engineering Building, Room 318A
Phone: 505-277-1904
Mailing address:
        MSC01 1100
        1 University of New Mexico
        Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
Dr. Simpson obtained the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, in 2003 and 2007, respectively.   Her research and Ph.D. advisor was Prof. Allen Taflove.   As a graduate student, Dr. Simpson was a recipient of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship, and also received fellowships, awards, and grants-in-aid from the Institue of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S), IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S), McCormick School of Engineering, and Intel Corporation.   She worked through a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in Prof. Heyno Garbe's Electromagnetic Compatibility Lab at the University of Hannover, Germany in summer of 2002.   In summers of 2003 - 2006, she worked as an engineering intern at Intel Corporation in Hillsboro, OR.
In August 2007, Dr. Simpson joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of New Mexico as a tenure-track assistant professor. Her research lab encompasses the application of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method to model electromagnetic phenomena at frequencies over 15 orders of magnitude (~1-> back to contentHz vs. ~600 THz). -> back to content
- Computational electromagnetics (CEM) theory and applications, especially FDTD solutions of Maxwell’s equations
- Geophysically induced electromagnetic phenomena in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide: View a QuickTime video of Dr. Simpson's 3-D FDTD global propagation model of an electromagnetic pulse generated by a lightning strike, See Dr. Simpson's work highlighted on Microwaves & RF Website
- Novel ultrawideband waveguiding interconnects for ultrahigh-speed digital data buses
- Electromagnetic compatibility problems arising in ultracompact portable electronic devices
- Photonic applications, including photonic interconnects and biophotonics: See Dr. Simpson and her colleagues' work highlighted in the "best of science news" Physics Today's online blog and selected for inclusion in the Virtual Journal of Biomedical Optics
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2001 Summer Grant, Northwestern University Undergraduate Research Grants Committee 2001-03 Undergraduate research assistantship funded by Intel Corporation 2002 German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Undergraduate Award 2003 IEEE AP-S International Symposium Student Paper Contest Finalist 2003-04 Northwestern University McCormick School of Engineering Murphy First-Year Graduate Fellowship 2004-05 IEEE AP-S Graduate Research Award 2004-05 Graduate research assistantship funded by Intel Corporation 2005-07 NSF Graduate Fellowship 2006 IEEE MTT-S Graduate Fellowship 2006-07 Northwestern University McCormick School of Engineering Richter Dissertation- Year Fellowship (declined due to prior NSF Graduate Fellowship) 2007 Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, Northwestern University 2008-2009 Nominee for the UNM Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award 2009-2010 Nominee for the UNM New Faculty Teacher of the Year Award 2009, 2010 University of New Mexico nominee for the Microsoft New Faculty Fellowship-> back to content
- Monica Madrid, Ph.D. student (supported by an AAUW Selected Professions Fellowship)
- Cesar Mendez-Ruiz, Ph.D. Student (supported by a CONACYT Fellowship)
- Jiajun Niu, Ph.D. Student
- Ethan Tanner, M.S. Student (partially supported by a 2009-2010 School of Engineering Carter Endowed Scholarship)
- Yaxin Yu, Ph.D. Candidate
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- Abhishek Tomar, Undergraduate Research Assistant from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India, ECE Dept. Expanding Your Engineering Skills (EYES) Program, Summer 2008
- Spring 2008, ECE 360: Electromagnetic Fields and Waves (undergraduate course)
- Fall 2008, ECE 495/563: Computational Methods for Electromagnetics (senior undergrad / graduate course)
- Spring 2009, ECE 360: Electromagnetic Fields and Waves (undergraduate course, online and in-class sections)
- Fall 2009, ECE 495/563: Computational Methods for Electromagnetics (senior undergrad / graduate course)
- Spring 2010, ECE 360: Electromagnetic Fields and Waves (undergraduate course)
Professional Society Memberships
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- Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society
- Eta Kappa Nu Electrical Engineering Honor Society
- IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society
- IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society
- URSI (Associate Member, Commission B)
- Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
- American Geophysical Union
- Faculty Advisor, UNM SWE Chapter, Aug. 2008 - Present.
- Women in Engineering Coordinator, IEEE Albuquerque, NM Chapter, Oct. 2008 - Present.
- Committee Member, New Technology Directions Committee, IEEE AP-S, 2008 - 2010.
- Committee Member, Education Committee, IEEE AP-S, 2009 - Present.
- Secretary, URSI Commission B, Jan. 2010 - Present.
- Special Session Organizer and Chair, “Emerging Techniques and Applications for FDTD Computational Modeling of Planetary Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in the ULF, ELF, and VLF bands,” North American Radio Science Meeting, Ottawa, Canada, August 2007.
- Special Session Organizer and Chair, “Advances in Computational Simulations for Biophotonics,” IEEE AP-S International Symposium and USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting, San Diego, CA, July 2008.
- Special Session Organizer and Chair, “Advances in Computational Biophotonics,” USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting, Boulder, CO, January 2010.
- Special Session Organizer and Chair, “Advances in Geophysical EM Investigations and Applications, including Lightning, Remote Sensing, and Space Weather,” International Conference on Electromagnetics in Advanced Applications (ICEAA), Sydney, Australia, September 2010 (to be held).
- Special Session Organizer and Chair, “Computational Biophotonics and Nano-Biophotonics,” USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting, Boulder, CO, January 2011 (to be held).
- Reviewer: IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation; IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine; IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters; IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques; IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters; IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Invited Talks (* indicates presenter)
Refereed Conference Proceedings (* indicates presenter)
Other Presentations (* indicates presenter)
-> back to contentSept. 2001 – June 2003 Evanston, IL
Resident Assistant, September 2001 – June 2002: Goodrich House (all-female hall); September 2002 – June 2003: Slivka Hall (Science and Engineering Residential College)
Served as a mentor/advisor to 50 undergraduate students.Feb. 2004 – June 2007 Evanston, IL
Assistant Master, Shepard Residential College (multi-thematic)
Coordinated social and academic events and opportunities to foster interaction between 180 undergraduate residents and faculty from all seven schools of Northwestern University.
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- Professor Allen Taflove, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northwestern University: http://www.ece.northwestern.edu/ecefaculty/Allen1.html
- Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc.: http://www.ieee.org/
- IEEE Student Scholarships and Awards: http://www.ieee.org/web/membership/students/scholarshipsawardscontests/SAG_homepage.html
- IEEE Xplore: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/
- EE Times: http://www.eet.com/
- New Mexico Network for Women in Science and Engineering (NMNWSE): http://nmnwse.org/
- Tomorrow's Professor Listserv: http://sll.stanford.edu/projects/tomprof/newtomprof/index.shtml
- Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/
- German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD): http://www.daad.org/
- National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov
- The International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience: http://www.iaeste.org/
- Engineers Without Borders: http://www.ewb-usa.org/
Recommended Reading (working list)
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- A. Taflove and S. C. Hagness, Computational Electrodynamics: The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method, 3rd ed., Artech House, 2005.
- D. Fleisch, A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
- A. Hirshfeld, The Electric Life of Michael Faraday, Walker and Company, 2006.
- MIT Technology Review, http://www.technologyreview.com/
- Magazines: Nature, Nature Photonics, Science, IEEE TAP/MTT/EMC publications, Optics Express, Scientific American
I enjoy running long-distance road and trail races. Past races include:
- 1998 Bolder Boulder 10K, Boulder, Colorado (with Eve)
- 2003 Skokie Spirit 10K, Skokie, Illinois (first overall female)
- 2004 Indy Mini-Marathon, Indiannapolis, Indiana
- 2004 Wrigley Start Early 10K Run, Chicago, Illinois
- 2004 Chicago Half-Marathon, Chicago, Illinois
- 2004 Honolulu Marathon, Honolulu, Hawaii (with AIDS marathon - Chicago)
- 2005 Kentucky Derby mini-marathon, Louisville, Kentucky (with Luke and George)
- 2005 Rocky Mountain Half-Marathon, Denver, Colorado (with my Dad!)
- 2005 Chicago Marathon, Chicago, Illinois (PR, 3:09:04)
- 2006 Boston Marathon, Boston, Massachusettes
- 2006 Elgin Valley Fox Trot 10 Mile Run, Elgin, Illinois
- 2006 Chicago Half-Marathon, Chicago, Illinois
- 2007 Trail of Lights 5K, Albuquerque, New Mexico (with Greg)
- 2008 Cactus Ridge Ramble 14.5 Mile Trail Run, El Paso, Texas
- 2008 Forever Young 10K, Placitas, New Mexico
- 2008 Armed Forces Day 1/2 Marathon, Albuquerque, New Mexico
- 2008 Run the Caldera Marathon, Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico (with Greg)
- 2008 Pikes Peak Ascent, Manitou Springs, Colorado
- 2008 Chicago Marathon, Chicago, Illinois
- 2008 Jingle Bell 10K Run, Albuquerque, New Mexico
- 2009 Phoenix Rock'N'Roll Arizona 1/2 Marathon, Phoenix, Arizona
- 2009 Forever Young 10K, Placitas, New Mexico (first overall female)
- 2009 Indy 500 1/2 Marathon, Indianapolis, Indiana (PR, 1:27:49)
- 2009 Jemez Mountain 1/2 Marathon, Las Alamos, New Mexico
- 2009 UNM Lobo Invite Community 5K, Albuquerque, NM
- 2009 Corrida de Corrales 5K, Corrales, New Mexico (first overall female)
- 2009 Duke City 1/2 Marathon, Albuquerque, New Mexico
- 2009 XTERRA Topanga Turkey Trot 10k, Topanga, California (first overall female)
- 2010 Phoenix Rock'N'Roll Arizona 1/2 Marathon, Phoenix, Arizona
-> back to contentI also enjoy running / hiking with my dogs...
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