Boot Camp Instructors
Steve Nichols
NSI-MI Technologies
Steve Nichols is the Manager of Instrumentation Engineering at NSI-MI Technologies, where he leads the development and technical support of electronic standard products and instruments. Prior to this, he served as the Manager of Applications and Systems Engineering for 4 years and the Manager of Product Engineering for 11 years. Initially, Steve joined NSI-MI in 2002 as the Manager of Systems Engineering.
Steve has over 40 years of experience in engineering design and technical management, much of it spent advancing the state of the art in antenna, radar cross section, and radome measurement instrumentation and systems at NSI-MI, MI Technologies, and as part of the Microwave Instrumentation Division of Scientific Atlanta. He also served as Director of R&D for Satellite Networks for several years, managing product development for telephony and data VSAT systems, and he continued in this role after the business was sold to ViaSat.
Steve served on the Board of Directors for the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association from 2014-2017 as the Technical Coordinator, President, and Past-President. He is also a Senior Member of the IEEE and has served on the Board of Directors for the IEEE Atlanta section.
Steve graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with highest honors in 1980, receiving a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree. He received management training at Scientific Atlanta through the “Leadership through Teamwork” program. Steve has also published several technical papers on antenna measurement topics and has given presentations as an invited speaker at several related industry events, such as AMTA, ATMS India, and EuCAP.
John Schultz
Compass Technology Group
John Schultz is the Chief Scientist at Compass Technology Group, a small engineering company that specializes in electromagnetic materials measurements and the development of measurement devices. He received a B.A. in Physics (1987) from the University of Maryland, a M.S. in Physics (1990) from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering (1997) from the University of Dayton. At the beginning of his career, he worked as an intel analyst both for several defense companies and then for the U.S. Air Force at the Air Force Information Warfare Center. From 1998 to 2013 he was research faculty at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, where he attained the rank of Tech Fellow. Since 2013, he has led research and product development efforts at Compass Technology Group. He is lead author on dozens of journal and conference publications, hundreds of technical reports, and has over half a dozen patents. His most recent book was published by Artech in 2023 and is titled, Wideband Microwave Materials Characterization
Jeff Kemp
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Mr. Jeff W. Kemp received his BS and MS (Physics) from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1993 and 1995, respectively. He has worked at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) since 1989 as a co-op student and since 1996 as a full-time researcher. He is currently a Principal Research Scientist and Branch Head in the Electromagnetics and Antennas Division (EAD) in the Sensors and Electromagnetics Applications Laboratory (SEAL) at GTRI. Mr. Kemp currently works in the field of Foreign Materiel Exploitation (FME) and Integrated Technical Evaluation and Analysis of Multiple Sources (ITEAMS) of antennas in radar systems and of radar systems. He is the Georgia Tech program manager for radar analysis efforts with the Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC). He led two recent major ITEAMS efforts for advanced air-defense threat radar systems for MSIC and three recent pre-ITEAMS efforts for advanced air-defense threat radar systems for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC). Mr. Kemp and his team received a letter of accommodation from MSIC in 2011 for work performed on an ITEAMS effort. He also has expertise in the areas of phased-array antenna development, simulation, and testing. He has authored or co-authored 75 technical publications documenting his research results, including 20 publications at AMTA Symposia and other professional society conferences. Mr. Kemp received the GTRI/SEAL Triple Threat Award in June 2013 for Leadership, Technical Performance, and Business Development. He was one of three finalists for the 2011 GTRI Program Management Excellence Award. Mr. Kemp has contributed to the education of professionals in the field of antenna engineering. Mr. Kemp developed and administers the Georgia Tech short course, Modeling and Simulation of Antennas. He regularly teaches in six different nationally recognized Georgia Tech short courses lecturing on the topics of measuring and modeling antennas, including Basic Antenna Concepts and Antenna Engineering. He has taught in over seventy-five Georgia Tech short course offerings. Mr. Kemp is a Senior Member of the AMTA and of the IEEE. He served as the Technical Coordinator for the 2006 and 2007 AMTA Symposia and as the President of AMTA for 2008. Mr. Kemp has served on two Host Committees for AMTA Symposia. In 2004, he served as the Technical Liaison of the Symposium, and in 2010, he served as the Vice-Chair of the Symposium. He also assisted the Technical Liaison for the 2009, 2011, and 2012 AMTA Symposia. Mr. Kemp served on the AMTA Technical Review Committee from 2004 to 2012. Since 2006, he has served as the co-chair of the AMTA Corner in IEEE APS Magazine, presenting the 6 best papers of AMTA Symposia as chosen by the AMTA Technical Review Committee. In addition, Mr. Kemp served as the Chair for the IEEE Atlanta Section in 2008 and as Chair of the Atlanta Chapter of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation/Microwave Theory and Techniques Societies (APS-MTTS) in 2003. He served as an officer for four years in the Atlanta Chapter of the IEEE APS-MTTS and served as an officer for three years in the IEEE Atlanta Section. He served as the Technical Coordinator for the 2009 IEEE SouthEastCon in Atlanta, GA, USA. He and his wife, Tamiko, have been married for eighteen years and have one daughter, Alsu (15) and two sons, Ivan (12) and Timothy (6).
Peter J Collins
Resonant Sciences
Peter J. Collins, PhD EE: Electromagnetics (1996). Over 30 years of Government SME experience. Commander of National RCS Test Facility (NRTF) for 4 years leading a diverse team of Government and Contractor scientists, engineers and technicians to ensure testing and upgrades on the Air Force’s premiere outdoor static RCS range. Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) LO Curriculum Chair who updated AFIT’s LO program, including the area of RCS metrology and introduced uncertainty analysis and modeling and simulation for test design into the curriculum. RCS Certification Executive Committee Member for 5 years, pushing for balance in QA best practices and test cost. Served as RCS Range reviewer for AFRL’s MDL radar, AFRL’s ACR (including recertification), Northrop Grumman’s SAF II Compact Range (review committee chair), and Northrop Grumman’s Tejon Outdoor Range (observer). 2013 SAF Harold Brown Award winner for survivability technology development including efforts to develop low frequency noise radar enabled RCS measurement systems and a patented low clutter bistatic measurement concept for indoor RCS measurement. He is currently a senior staff engineer with Resonant Sciences focusing on survivability technologies.
Zhong Chen
ETS-Lindgren
Zhong Chen is Chief Engineer at ETS-Lindgren, located in Cedar Park, Texas. He has over 25 years of experience in RF testing, anechoic chamber design, as well as EMC antenna and field probe design and measurements. He is serving as Vice-Chair of C63 and is the immediate past Chair of Subcommittee 1 which is responsible for the antenna calibration (ANSI C63.5) and chamber/test site validation standards (ANSI C63.4 and the ANSI C63.25 series). Mr. Chen is chair of the IEEE Standard 1309 committee responsible for developing calibration standards for field probes, and IEEE Standard 1128 for absorber evaluation. Currently he is a member of the IEEE EMC Society Board of Directors and a former member of the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA) Board of Directors. His research interests include measurement uncertainty, data post-processing techniques for site validation and antenna calibration, and development of novel RF absorber materials. He has received recognition for several best papers at global conferences. Zhong Chen received his M.S.E.E. degree in Electromagnetics from the Ohio State University at Columbus. He may be reached at zhong.chen@ets-lindgren.com.
Stuart Gregson
Next Phase Measurements
Professor Stuart Gregson has nearly thirty years of experience working in the space, aerospace and communications sectors and is Director of Operations and Research at Next Phase Measurements, and an honorary visiting professor in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London. He received his BSc degree in Physics, his MSc degree in Microwave Solid State Physics, both from the University of Portsmouth and his PhD degree from Queen Mary University of London. From his time with: Airbus, Leonardo, NSI-MI, NPL, and Next Phase Measurements; Prof. Gregson has developed special experience with near-field antenna measurements, finite array mutual coupling, computational electromagnetics, installed antenna and radome performance prediction, compact antenna test range design & simulation, electromagnetic scattering, 5G OTA measurements and has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed research papers on these topics, regularly contributing to and organizing industrial courses in these subject areas. At the end of 2007 he was the lead author of the research text, Principles of Planar Near-Field Antenna Measurements, and in 2014 he co-authored a second text, Theory and Practice of Modern Antenna Range Measurements, both of which are in their second editions and are published by the IET within their Electromagnetic Waves Series. He has twice received the AMTA Best Technical Paper award. In 2015 he presented the AMTA Sunday Short Course on Near-Field Measurement Error Analysis & Computational Electromagnetic Modeling, and currently organizes and presents the IET’s annual short course on Modern Antenna Range Measurements. In 2018, Prof. Gregson was elected to the AMTA Board of Directors where he served first as Treasurer, then as Vice President, and now as Chair of the AMTA Growth Committee. He is a Fellow of the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and is a chartered Engineer and Physicist. In 2022 he received the AMTA Outstanding Service Award.
Dennis Lewis
The Boeing Company
Dennis Lewis received his BS EE degree with honors from Henry Cogswell College and his MS degree in Physics from the University of Washington. He has worked at Boeing for 34 years and is recognized as a Technical Fellow, leading the enterprise antenna measurement capability for Boeing Test and Evaluation. Dennis holds eleven patents and is the recipient of the 2013 & 2015 Boeing Special Invention Award. He is a senior member of the IEEE and several of its technical societies including the Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S), the Antennas and Propagation Society and the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Society. He actively contributes to these societies as a member of the IEEE MTT-S subcommittee 3 on microwave measurements and as a Board Member and a past Distinguished Lecturer for the EMC Society. He is a Senior Member and served as Vice President on the Board of Directors for the Antenna Measurements Techniques Association (AMTA) and chaired its annual symposium in 2012 and 2023. Dennis is a part time faculty member teaching a course on Measurement Science at North Seattle College and is a past chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee. His current technical interests include aerospace applications of reverberation chamber test techniques as well as microwave and antenna measurement systems and uncertainties.