National Spectrum Consortium Recognizes Purdue University PhD Candidate Jacqueline Malayter with Women in Spectrum Scholarship
National Spectrum Consortium awarded one of its second annual Women in Spectrum Scholarships to Jacqueline Malayter, PhD candidate in the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. The Women in Spectrum Scholarship promotes the academic accomplishments of female students studying electrical engineering at U.S. ABET-accredited universities.
“The NSC is proud to continue this scholarship program as a means to support female engineers who are committed to academic excellence and leadership on their campus,” said NSC Executive Committee Member Dr. Sheryl Genco. “The spectrum industry needs more diverse voices, and providing support for women at the beginning of their academic careers is essential in strengthening the pipeline to eventual professional careers. This scholarship will remain a core part of NSC’s mission for years to come.”
With the Women in Spectrum Scholarship program, the NSC hopes to further develop the pipeline of talented women engineers entering fields related to spectrum and communications. This effort is designed to encourage women scholars to continue to pursue careers in spectrum research and development.
"I am honored to be an NSC Spectrum Scholar and use this opportunity to grow my skills as a researcher in order to tackle challenging problems in wireless communications,” said Malayter. “I look forward to the mentorship opportunities this award presents and look forward to being a mentor to others in wireless someday."
Malayter started learning about wireless communications while participating in Purdue’s Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program as an undergraduate. Her VIP team focused on resolving the low-latency relaying problem. Students explored which techniques can improve the “reliability” while simultaneously reducing the “latency” during transmissions.
This past summer, Malayter had an internship at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory where she worked more on protected satellite communications. She said her plans are to focus her future PhD research on secure wireless communications, not only for government applications but also for the everyday user. Malayter’s advisor is David J. Love, Nick Trbovich Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue.
The Women in Spectrum scholarships were awarded at the 2023 IEEE Military Communications Conference (MILCOM): Communications Supporting Military Operations in a Contested Environment.