PhD student Alden N. Fisher selected for MTT-S Graduate Fellowship
Alden N. Fisher, a graduate student in Purdue University’s Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been selected for a Graduate Fellowship from the Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S) of IEEE. The title of his research proposal is “Solid-State Plasma Switches for Reconfigurable High-Power RF Electronics.” Fisher will receive the award at the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium in San Diego, California, this June.
The IEEE MTT-S Graduate Fellowship is an internationally competitive award whose recipients are selected on the basis of a research proposal and academic potential, and consists of a $6,000 fellowship and travel funding to the awards presentation.
“Receiving this award out of a global selection of exemplary students is an incredible honor,” said Fisher. “It demonstrates my hard work as an individual, as well as Purdue’s role in facilitating innovative thought and enabling impactful research.”
Fisher earned a BSEE in 2017 from Purdue ECE and is now pursuing a Ph.D. under the supervision of Dimitrios Peroulis, the Michael and Katherine Birck Head and Reilly Professor in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
His research focuses on the problem of current high-frequency switches’ inability to handle the high powers required for numerous communication and radar systems. Fisher’s research efforts have advanced solid-state plasma (photoconductive) switches to rival conventional technologies and enhance power handling capabilities. This technology has been showcased as a high-power impedance tuner capable of increasing the allowable data throughput and radar detection range.