The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has selected Jonathan Chisum, associate professor of electrical engineering and affiliate of the Wireless Institute, to be a Summer Faculty Fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Radar Division in Washington, D.C.

During his 10-week fellowship, Chisum will collaborate with NRL engineers with the goal of creating a clear and actionable plan for how lens antennas—antennas that focus electromagnetic waves—can enhance the effectiveness of communication, radar and electronic systems in ships, aircraft and satellites.

Chisum’s research involves the development of Gradient Refractive Index (GRIN) lens antennas, which provide a very low-cost, low-power solution for high-performance beamscanning antennas—a critical capability in many advanced communications, and sensing applications. In addition, Chisum has developed a hybrid system which combines the GRIN lens antennas with conventional phased-array antennas to dramatically improve the performance and efficiency of existing hardware systems.

His lab focuses on creating advanced and energy-efficient circuit and antenna systems for microwave and millimeter-wave (MMW) wireless communication and sensing. Chisum served as a member of the technical staff at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, where he worked in the Wideband Communications and Spectrum Operations groups. He earned a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2011 and joined the faculty of the University of Notre Dame in 2015.