NRSM Student Paper Competition

Competition Overview

For many years, USNC-URSI has sponsored the Ernest K. Smith Student Paper Competition (SPC) at the National Radio Science Meeting (NRSM) or North American Radio Science Meeting (NARSM). Each submission is reviewed by the relevant Commission Chairs or SPC Committee, and the papers with the highest scores are selected to present during the NRSM or NARSM SPC session. The placement of the top three students is determined by the student’s oral presentations at the SPC session. First place is awarded $1000, second place $750, and third place $250.

Past Prize Winners

***Our records are incomplete, but a partial list of the past prize winners is shown below. In some years there are ties for a given place, as indicated by the same place number for more than one name.

2024

  • 1. Trevor Hedges, Stanford University
  • 2. Duncan Madden, University of Michigan
  • 3. Sedigheh Esfahani, City University of New York

2023

  • 1. Donglia Ma, University of California Los Angeles
  • 2. Connor Jenkins, The Ohio State University
  • 3. Shixiong Yin, City University of New York

2022

  • 1. C.J. Bauder, University of Tennessee
  • 2. Yiran Cui, Arizona State University
  • 3. Gaeron Friedrichs, University of Colorado Boulder

2021

  • 1. Junbo Wang, University of California Los Angeles
  • 2. Tianlin Wang, University of Michigan
  • 3. Diego Farfan, University of Texas

2020

  • 1. Navid Barani, University of Michigan
  • 2. Ruyu Ma, University of Wisconsin Madison
  • 2. Shashwat Sharma, University of Toronto

2019

  • 1. Jordan Budhu, University of California Los Angeles
  • 2. William J. Longley, Boston University
  • 3. Poorya Hosseini, University of Colorado Denver

2018

  • 1. Yahya Mohtashami, University of Wisconsin Madison
  • 2. Diasong Zhang, University of California Los Angeles
  • 3. Wenyang Li, Brown University

2017

  • 1. Andrew Nuttall, Stanford University
  • 1. Ashanti S. Maxworth, University of Colorado Denver
  • 1. Lingnan Song, University of California Los Angeles

Note: the 2017 SPC session was cancelled due to weather, so all finalists were awarded first place.

2016

  • 1. Ushemadzoro Chipengo, The Ohio State University
  • 2. Mohammad A. Salem, Florida Institute of Technology
  • 2. Ersin Yetisir, The Ohio State University

2015

  • 1. Luz Maria Neira, University of Wisconsin Madison
  • 2. Jeffrey S. Jensen, Texas A&M University
  • 3. Jonathan Pozderac, The Ohio State University
  • 3. Seyed Mohamad Amin Momeni Hasan Abadi, University of Wisconsin Madison
  • 5. Matthew S. Lucaks, Air Force Institute of Technology

2014

  • 1. Alexander Fletcher, Stanford University
  • 2. Elias Alwan, The Ohio State University
  • 3. Padmashri Suresh, Utah State University

2013

  • 1. Nicolas Lee, Stanford University
  • 2. Jeffrey Chalas, The Ohio State University
  • 3. Sotirios Mallios, Pennsylvania State University

2012

  • 1. Matthew Burfeindt, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • 2. Timothy Brockett, University of California Los Angeles
  • 3. Pai-Yen Chen, University of Texas at Austin

2011

  • 1. Jacquelyn Vitaz, University of Michigan
  • 2. Shuji Fujimaru, University of Florida
  • 3. Srikumar Sandeep, University of Colorado Boulder

2010

  • 1. Morris Cohen, Stanford University
  • 2. Adel Elsherbini, University of Michigan
  • 3. Yang Li, University of Texas at Austin

2009

  • 1. Praphun Naenna, The Ohio State University
  • 2. Jeremy Riousset, Pennsylvania State University
  • 3. Yijun Zhou, The Ohio State University

2008

  • 1. Harish Rajagopalan, University of California Los Angeles
  • 2. Gokhan Mumcu, The Ohio State University
  • 3. Songnan Yang, University of Tennessee

2007

  • 1. Francesco Andriulli, University of Michigan
  • 2. Robert Marshall, Stanford University
  • 3. Titipong Lertwiriyaprapa, The Ohio State University

2006

  • 1. Brian Edwards, University of Pennsylvania
  • 2. Zhenggang Cheng, Duke University
  • 3. DaHan Liao, University of Michigan

2005

  • 1. Reyhan Baktur, Clemson University
  • 2. DaHan Liao, University of Michigan
  • 3. Heng Yang, Pennsylvania State University

2004

  • 1. Fernanda Sao Sabbas, University of Alaska
  • 2. Nader Behdad, University of Michigan
  • 3. Aycan Erentok, University of Arizona

2003

  • 1. Melissa G. Meyer, University of Washington
  • 2. Hosung Choo, University of Texas at Austin
  • 3. Vijaya Chandran Ramasami, University of Kansas

2002

  • 1. Sigrid Close, Boston University
  • 2. Sang-il Lee, University of Washington
  • 3. Sermsak Jaruwatanadilok, University of Washington

2001

  • 1. James P. Hoffman, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • 2. Mark Curry, University of Washington
  • 3. Yaser A. Khalaf, Virginia Tech

2000

  • 1. Michael J. Starks, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • 2. Danai Torrungrueng, The Ohio State University
  • 3. You Chung Chung, University of Nevada

1999

  • 1. Nikolai G. Lehtinen, Stanford University
  • 2. David C. Wittwer, University of Arizona
  • 3. Fernando L. Teixeira, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1998

  • 1. Steven C. Reising, Stanford University
  • 2. Charles A. Moses, University of Pennsylvania
  • 3. Robert A. Hoferer, University of California Los Angeles

1996

  • 1. Luis Trintinalla, University of Texas at Austin
  • 2. Kathleen Virga, University of California Los Angeles
  • 3. Todd Valentic, University of Colorado Boulder