Rhonda Franklin


Rhonda Franklin is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota. She is a microwave and radio frequency engineer whose research focuses on microelectronic mechanical structures in radio and microwave applications. She has won several awards, including the 1998 NSF Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the 2013 Sara Evans Leadership Award, the 2017 John Tate Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising, and the 2018 Minnesota African American Heritage Calendar Award for her contributions to higher education.

Education

Franklin grew up in Houston, Texas. During high school, she received mixed advice on the career she should pursue. While her senior counselor thought she should become a secretary, her science teachers encouraged her to explore STEM fields by attending a summer camp run by the National Science Foundation. This exposure to science inspired Franklin to pursue and complete her Bachelor's degree in Electronic Engineering at Texas A&M University in 1988. She joined University of Michigan for her graduate studies, earning a Master's in 1990 and her PhD in 1995. Her supervisor was Linda Katehi. She was the first African American woman in the microwave engineering program, and one of only six African-Americans graduating with engineering Ph.D.s in the United States in 1995. Her graduate research was sponsored by the and involved three placements at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Research and career

Franklin researches radio-frequency microwave circuits. She identifies new ways to integrate communication devices. She was an instructor at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1996, and joined the University of Minnesota's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty in 1998. She was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by Bill Clinton in 1998.
Her research areas include:
Her recent research combines high-speed antennas and circuits for biomedical applications, such as cancer diagnostics.
Franklin was the first woman to earn tenure in her department as an assistant professor, and also is the first African-American woman to do so in both her department and the entire college.
In 2007 she was appointed chair of the scholarship program, and worked to promote microwave-engineering education to minority students. In 2012 she was named a CIC Academic Leadership Fellow. In 2013 she was promoted to Professor. She won the 2014 Sara Evans Award for her research success in wireless communications. She won the 2016 John Tate Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising from the University of Minnesota, and was the recipient of the 2019 N. Walter Cox Award of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society for exemplary service "in a spirit of selfless dedication and cooperation."
Franklin instituted the Microwave Packaging and Technology research group at the University of Minnesota.
In 2020, Franklin along with Chris Purnell received the inaugural IEM Abbott Professorships in Innovative Education. The Professorships were awarded to the co- directors of The Institute for Engineering in Medicine at the University of Minnesota. The award is intended to help advance IEM's mission to inspire students in eighth grade through junior college to see themselves in STEM careers in biomedicine and healthcare delivery.

Public engagement and diversity work

Franklin co-founded the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Microwave Theory and Techniques Society’s International Microwave Symposium Project Connect, which connects underrepresented undergraduate college students to opportunities in microwave engineering, a field in STEM. She works with her co-founders, Prof. Tom Weller and Prof. Rashaunda Henderson, and other committed industry and government colleagues who volunteer from the MTT-S society to create and host this immersive program to broaden participation of women and minorities annually within the IMS conference of the IEEE MTT-S professional society since 2014. Project Connect selects students based on academic credentials and offers both professional development opportunities and technical training. Through the University of Michigan "Next Prof" program, Franklin has been a mentor to several early career scientists. She uses educational technology to provide access for students from minority groups.

Publications

ANTENNAS – MICROFLUIDICS AND FABRY-PEROT ANTENNAS SYSTEMS WITH FREQUENCY SELECTIVE SURFACES

* Casey Murray and Rhonda R. Franklin, “Independently Tunable Annular Slot Antenna Resonant Frequen-cies Using Fluids,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 2014, pp. 1449 – 1452, Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/LAWP.2014.2341232.
* C. Lee, B. Sainati, R. Franklin, R. Harjani, “Comparative analysis of frequency selective surface geometry effect in Fabry-Perot Cavity antenna design,” 16th IEEE Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference, pp. 1–4, April 2015, Coco Beach, FL., DOI: 10.1109/WAMICON.2015.7120426.
* C. Lee, B. Sainati, R. Franklin, and R. Harjani, “Fluidic Switching and Tuning of Fabry-Perot Antenna,” presented at the IEEE 2015 APS/URSI Conference, Vancouver BC, July 2015.
* C. Lee, B. Sainati, and R Franklin, “Parametric Study of Near and Far-Field Performance of FPC An-tenna System”, 17th IEEE Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference, pp. 1–4, April 2016, Clearwater, FL.
* C. Lee, B. Sainati and R. Franklin, “Analysis of Coplanar Waveguide Feedline Effect on Fabry-Perot Cav-ity Antenna System Performance,” 2016 IEEE Antenna and Propagation Society International Sympo-sium, June 2016.
* C. Lee, B. Sainati and R. Franklin, “Fabry-Perot Cavity Antenna System with Beam-Splitting of Near-Field Radiation,” 2016 IEEE Antenna and Propagation Society International Symposium, June 2016.
* C. Lee, B. Sainati, and R. Franklin, “Design of Beam-Splitting Frequency Selective Surfaces for Fab-ry-Perot Cavity Antenna Systems,” 2016 European Microwave Conference, Oct. 2016.
* C. Lee, B. Sainati, and R. Franklin, “Reconfigurable Frequency Selective Surface for Fabry-Perot Cavity Antenna System,” 2017 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting in San Diego, California, July 9–14, 2017, submitted: 1/16/2017, accepted.
* C. Lee, B. Sainati, and R. Franklin, “Microfluidic Near-Field Beam-Splitting Frequency Selective Sur-face for Fabry-Perot Cavity Antenna System,” 2017 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting in San Diego, California, July 9–14, 2017, submitted: 1/16/2017, accepted.
* C. Lee, B. Sainati, and R. Franklin, “Frequency Selective Surface Effects on a Coplanar Waveguide Feedline in Fabry-Perot Cavity Antenna Systems,” 2018 IEEE Microwave Wireless Components Letters, Vol. 17, No. 5, 2018.
* Chanjoon Lee, Aditya Dave, Robert Sainati, and Rhonda Franklin, “Near-Field Multi-Beam-Splitting for Fabry-Perot Cavity Antenna System, 2018 APS/URSI International Symposium, Boston, MA, July 2018.
* Chanjoon Lee, Aditya Dave, Robert Sainati, and Rhonda Franklin, “Source Effect on Near-Field Multi-Beam-Splitting in Fabry-Perot Cavity Antenna System,” 2018 APS/URSI International Symposium, Boston, MA, July 2018

CIRCUITS – COMPACT PASSIVES, MICROFLUIDIC, AND MAGNETIC NANOWIRES

* S. R. Banerjee and R. F. Drayton, “Circuit models for constant impedance micromachined lines on dielectric discontinuities,” IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 52, pp. 105–111, Jan. 2004.
* T. Pan, A. Baldi, E. Davis-venn, R. F. Drayton, and B. Ziaie, “Fabrication and modeling of silicon-embedded high-Q inductor,” J. Micromech. Microeng., vol. 15, pp. 849–854, March 11, 2005.
* S.R. Banerjee, C. Zheng, and R.F. Drayton, “A 3D Miniaturization Method for Low Impedance Designs,” IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging – Special Issue on The Electrical Performance of Packages and Interconnects, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 200–208, May 2007.
* C. Murray and R. R. Franklin, “Impedance Matching using Fluidic Channels in Coplanar Waveguide Structures,” Microwave and Optical Letters, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 789–793, April 2013.
* C. Murray and R. R. Franklin, “Edge Coupled Variable Microfluidic Directional Coupler,” Microwave and Optical Letters, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 756–758, April 2013.
* G. Miranda and R. Franklin, “Fluidic Tunable Microstrip Bandstop Filter,” 15th Annual IEEE Wire-less and Microwave Technology Conference, pp. 1–3, June 6, 2014, Poster Presentation.
* W. Zhou, J. Um, B. Stadler, and R. Franklin, “Design of Self-Biased Coplanar Circulator with Ferro-magnetic Nanowires,” presented at the 2018 Radio Wireless Systems Symposium Digest, p. 240-243, Anaheim, CA, Jan. 2018.

INTEGRATION – 3D INTERCONNECTS AND INTEGRATED PACKAGING

* Rhonda Franklin Drayton, S. Riki Banerjee, and Jeremy L. Haley, “Characterization of micromachined transitions for high-speed integrated packages,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Special Issue on Wireless Technology, vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 693–697, May 2002.
* Rajesh R. Patel, Steven W. Bond, Michael D. Pocha, Michael C. Larson, Henry E. Garrett, Rhonda F. Drayton, Holly E. Petersen, Denise M. Krol, Robert J. Deri, and Mark E. Lowry, “Multi-wavelength parallel optical interconnects for massively parallel processing,” IEEE J. Select. Top. Quant. Elec., vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 657–666, March–April 2003.
* I. Itotia and R. F. Drayton, “Loss Reduction Methods for Planar Circuit Designs on Lossy Substrates,” IEEE 2004 Antenna and Propagation Symposium Digest, pp. 1447–1450, Monter-rey, CA.
* Rhonda Franklin Drayton, “Recent Developments in Porous Silicon Substrates for RF/Microwave Applications,” 5th Topical IEEE Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems Digest, pp. 155–162, Atlanta, GA, September 2004.
* S.R. Banerjee and R. F. Drayton, “50 GHz Integrated Interconnects in Silicon Optical Microbench Technology, IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 307-313, May 2006.
* Hosaeng Kim and Rhonda Franklin Drayton, “Size Reduction Method of Coplanar Waveguide Electromagnetic Bandgap Structures Using Slow Wave Design, 2007 IEEE Silicon RF Confer-ence Digest, pp. 191-194, Jan. 11, 2007, Long Beach, CA.
* H. Kim and R. Franklin-Drayton “Wire-Bond Free Technique for Right-Angle Coplanar Waveguide Bend Structures,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 442–8, Feb. 2009.
* Y-S. Cho and R. Franklin-Drayton, “Characterization and Lumped Circuit Model of Ultra-Wideband Flip-Chip Transitions for Wafer-Scale Packaging,” Microwave and Optical Technolo-gy Letters, vol. 51, no. 5, pp. 1281–5, May 2009.
* Y-S. Cho and R. Franklin-Drayton, “Development of Ultra-Broadband Wafer-Scale Packaging Method for Low Profile Bump Flip-Chip Technology,” IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 788–96, Nov. 2009.

MATERIALS – NOVEL AND CHARACTERIZATION

* Rebecca Lorenz Peterson and Rhonda Franklin Drayton, “A CPW T-Resonator technique for electrical characterization of microwave substrates,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 90–92, Mar. 2002.
* S. R. Banerjee and R. F. Drayton, “Development of quasi half coax lines for wafer level packaging,” Proceedings of the 2005 Electronic Components and Technology Conference, vol. 1, pp. 551 – 556 Vol. 1, June 2005.
* ChengLin Zheng, S. Riki Banerjee, and Rhonda F. Drayton, “Modeling of Irregular Non-planar Transi-tion Effects Formed by Bulk Micromachining on High Resistivity Silicon Wafer,” 2006 IEEE Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems Digest, pp. 89–92, 18–20 January 2006, San Diego, CA.
* E. Davis-Venn and R. F. Drayton, “Novel Embedded Low Impedance Design Method Approach for MMIC Applications,” 2006 IEEE Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems Di-gest, pp. 252–255, 18–20 January 2006, San Diego, CA.
* Y. Liu, H. Kim, R. Franklin, and D. R. Bond, “Gold line array electrodes increase substrate affinity and current density of electricity-producing G. sulfurrenducens, biofilms,” Energy and Environmental Sci-ence, vol. 3, no. 11, pp. 1782–1788, 2010, DOI. 10.1039/c0ee00242a.
* Y. Liu, H. Kim, R. Franklin, D. Bond, “Linking Spectral and Electrochemical Analysis to Monitor c-type Cytochrome Redox Status in Living Geobacter sulfurrenducens Biofilms,” CHEMPHYSCHEM, vol. 12, no. 12, pp. 2235–2241, 2011, DOI: 10.1002/chphc.201100246.
* Y. S. Cho and R. R. Franklin, “Conducting Polymer Material Characterization Using High Frequency Planar Transmission Line Measurement“ Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials, Vol. 13, No. 5, pp. 237–240, October 25, 2012, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4313/TEEM.2012.13.5.237.
* W. Zhou, J. Um, Y. Zhang, and A. Nelson, B. Stadler, and R. Franklin, “Ferromagnetic Resonance Characterization of Magnetic Nanowires for Bio-label applications, 2018 International Microwave Bi-omedical Conference, June 14–15, 2018.

MICROWAVE DIAGNOSTICS – FOR RELIABILITY

* L. You, C. Okoro, J. Ahn, J. Kopanski, R. Franklin, and Y. Obeng, Broadband Microwave-Based Me-trology Platform Development: demonstration of In-Situ Failure Mode Diagnostic Capabilities for Inte-grated Circuit Reliability Analyses, ECS J. Solid State Sci, Technol. 2015, Vol. 4, No. 1, N3113-N3117, DOI: 10.1149/2.0151501jss.
* Y. Obeng,C. Okoro, P. Amoah, R. Franklin, P. Kabos, Low Frequency Radio Wave Detection of Elec-trically Active Defects in Dielectrics,” ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology 01/2016; 5:P3025-P3030. DOI: 10.1149/2.0051604jss.

ENGINEERING EDUCATION

* J. Frolik, P. Flikkema, T. Weller, C. Haden, W. Shiroma and R. Franklin, “Leveraging multi-university collaboration to develop portable and adaptable online course content,” ASEE Advances in Engineering Education, Vol. 3, No.3, Winter 2013.
* T. Weller, C. Haden, J. Frolik, P.G. Flikkema, A. Ohta, S. Thomas, R. Franklin, and W. Shiroma, “A Systems-Centric, Foundational Experience in Circuits,” 2014 ASEE Annual Conference, Indianapolis, IN, June 2014.
* P. Flikkema, R. Franklin, J. Frolic, C. Haden, A. Ohta, W. Shiroma, S. Thomas and T. Weller, “EN-FUSE: Engaging Fundamentals and Systems Engineering in Introductory Circuits,” 2015 ASEE Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, June 14–17, 2015.