Planning IUCRC at University of Arkansas: Center for High-Frequency Electronics And Circuits for Communication Systems (CHECCS)

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The Center for High-Frequency Electronics and Circuits for Communication Systems (CHECCS) team plans to establish a multidisciplinary IUCRC center in high-frequency communication systems. Such systems have penetrated almost all aspects of our daily life, with applications ranging from autonomous cars, personalized medicine, and monitored healthcare to agricultural sensing and merchandise inventory systems, for example. The scope of CHECCS broadly includes materials, electronics, devices, circuits, radiation, and their applications. A team with broad and complementary sets of expertise will collaborate with industrial partners to initiate integrated research projects. Such projects will serve as the foundation for the center, which will not only support research projects but also coordinate educational activities in both high-frequency electronics and communications to offer certificates and training as needed by industry partners. The center?s objectives include solving multidisciplinary problems of interest to industry in this technically-challenging and economically-vital critical area, addressing industry strategic needs, and training future engineers; thus addressing a national need for qualified engineers and scientists with deep expertise in the various technically-challenging areas supporting high-frequency communications.The intellectual merits of CHECCS include activities that would support the development of the research and educational components of this initiative into a highly visible integrated program in the US. The excellent semiconductor fabrication and RF test facilities at University of Arkansas will be great assets for the industrial partners. Researchers and industrial partners will work on developing devices, circuits and systems supporting commercial and defense-oriented applications. CHECCS envisions producing highly qualified and trained engineers capable of leading advanced research and exploratory activities. Broader impacts include accelerating technology transfer research into viable products, stimulating spin-offs and start-up businesses, and forming long-term partnerships with various organizations while leveraging industry and NSF/DOD/DOE support. CHECCS will combine knowledge from research groups, train future engineers, and equip them with base knowledge through working on increasingly complex projects in high-frequency communications. CHECCS will have graduate students involved in high-quality pre-competitive research projects, thus developing students who are knowledgeable in industrially-relevant research and attracting more domestic students to strengthen ties to recruiters and alumni.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.