About

Jeffrey_Nanzer_circle

Jeffrey Nanzer is an MSU Research Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan State University. He received his PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He previously held positions at the University of Texas Applied Research Laboratories and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He leads the Distributed Electromagnetics Theory and Applications group and directs MSU’s Electromagnetics Laboratory, which includes the Antenna Laboratory and the Radar Laboratory. He has published more than 200 journal and conference papers, two book chapters, and the book Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Remote Sensing for Security Applications (Artech House, 2012). His research focuses on new technologies in distributed antennas, distributed wireless systems, imaging, radar, and remote sensing.

Nanzer is a member of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) Education Committee and a member of USNC/URSI Commission B. He was a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (Tatsuo Itoh class of 2022-2024). He has served as Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Guest Editor for the IEEE Microwave and Wireless Technology Letters, Chair of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (IEEE MTT-S) Microwave Systems Technical Committee (MTT-16), Vice-Chair of the IEEE Antenna Standards Committee, and member of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Standards Committee. He was a founding member and the first treasurer of the IEEE AP-S/MTT Central Texas Chapter.

Google Scholar profile

Awards and Honors

  • MSU Research Foundation Distinguished Professorship (2025)
  • Withrow Rising Scholar Award (2024)
  • Google Research Scholar Award (2023)
  • Google Research Scholar Award (2022)
  • IEEE MTT-S Distinguished Lecturer (Tatsuo Itoh class of 2022-2024)
  • DARPA Director’s Fellowship (2019)
  • Outstanding Young Engineer Award, IEEE MTT-S (2019)
  • NSF CAREER Award (2018)
  • DARPA Young Faculty Award (2017)
  • Dennis P. Nyquist Assistant Professorship (2016)
  • JHU/APL Special Achievement Award (2016)
  • IEEE Senior Member (2014)
  • JHU/APL Special Achievement Award (2014)
  • JHU/APL Outstanding Professional Publication Award (2012)

Publication Awards

  • Honorable Mention, Student Paper Competition, M. Dula and J. A. Nanzer, International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (2026)
  • Honorable Mention, Student Paper Competition, N. Shandi, J. Merlo and J. A. Nanzer, International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (2026)
  • 2nd place, Student Paper Competition, J. Merlo, N Shandi, M, Dula, and J. A. Nanzer, IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array Systems & Technology (2024)
  • Finalist, Student Paper Competition, J. Merlo and J. A. Nanzer, IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (2024)
  • Finalist, Student Paper Competition, J. Merlo, S. Wagner, J. Lancaster, and J. A. Nanzer, IEEE International Microwave Symposium (2024)
  • Finalist, Student Paper Competition, M. Dula, N. Shandi, and J. A. Nanzer, WAMICON (2024)
  • 1st place, Student Paper Competition, J. Merlo, A. Schlegel, and J. A. Nanzer, IEEE International Microwave Symposium (2023)
  • Honorable Mention, Student Paper Competition, J. Merlo and J. A. Nanzer, IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (2023)
  • 1st place, Student Paper Competition, S. Vakalis, J. Colon-Berrios, and J. A. Nanzer, SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing (2022)
  • 2nd Place, Student Paper Competition, S. Vakalis and J. A. Nanzer, IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (2020)
  • Outstanding Paper, J. J. Doroshewitz, A. Kaur, J. A. Nanzer, and P. Chahal, IMAPS 50th International Symposium on Microelectronics (2017)

Advisee Achievements

  • IEEE AP-S Fellowship, Matt Dula (2025)
  • URSI Young Scientist Award, Jason Merlo (2023)
  • MSU ECE Outstanding PhD Student, Daniel Chen (2023)
  • 2nd place, Fitch H. Beach Award, MSU College of Engineering, Daniel Chen (2023)
  • IEEE MTT-S Graduate Fellowship, Jason Merlo (2023)
  • Honorable Mention, Fitch H. Beach Award, MSU College of Engineering, Stavros Vakalis (2021)
  • URSI Young Scientist Award, Stavros Vakalis (2021)
  • MSU Postdoctoral Excellence in Research Award, Neda Nourshamsi (2021)
  • IEEE MTT-S Tom Brazil Graduate Fellowship, Stavros Vakalis (2021)
  • IEEE AP-S Doctoral Research Grant, Stavros Vakalis (2020)
  • 2nd Place, Student Design Contest, IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, Cory Hilton, Jason Merlo, Ben Macneill, Jacob Randall, Stavros Vakalis (2020)
  • Gerondelis Foundation Graduate Scholarship, Stavros Vakalis (2019)
  • 1st Place, Student Design Contest, IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, William Stevers, Anton Schlegel, Pratik Chatterjee, Justin Opperman (2018)
  • Graduate Excellence Fellowship, MSU College of Engineering, Anton Schlegel (2018)
  • Graduate Excellence Fellowship, MSU College of Engineering, Eric Klinefelter (2018)
  • Finalist, Student Design Contest, IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, Vincenz Gjokaj, John Doroshewitz, Sean Ellison, Ethan Gros (2017)
  • Finalist, Student Safety Technology Design Competition, International Technical Conference on Enhanced Safety of Vehicles, Jason Merlo, Kyle Lammers, Ryan Ashbaugh, Austin Winarski (2017)