Team – Jeffrey Nanzer

Our group’s research focuses on new technologies for distributed antennas and wireless systems, radar, millimeter-wave imaging, arrays, and electromagnetics.

Motivated and outstanding prospective students and postdocs are invited to apply for a research position in the group.

Jason Merlo

Research Professor

Jason received the B.S. degree in computer engineering and the PhD degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. His current research interests include distributed interferometric arrays, radar detection and tracking, and radar applied to robotics applications. He was the recipient of a 2023 URSI Young Scientist Award and a 2023 IEEE MTT-S Graduate Fellowship. He won first place in the Student Paper Competition at the 2023 IEEE International Microwave Symposium and won Honorable Mention in the Student Paper Contest at the 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation. He won Second Place in the Student Design Contest at the 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and was a finalist in the Student Safety Technology Design Competition at the 2017 International Technical Conference on Enhanced Safety of Vehicles.

Sheng Huang

Postdoc

Sheng received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at the school of electrical engineering and telecommunications of the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia, in 2017 and 2023 respectively. He was awarded a Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD Theses in recognition of his PhD thesis ‘Novel Antennas for Microwave and mm-Wave Systems’. His current research interests include millimeter wave antennas, substrate-integrated waveguide antennas, additive manufacturing antennas, beam-reconfigurable antennas, and ultra-narrowband antennas.

Ahona Bhattacharyya

Ph.D. student

Ahona received the B. Tech degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, Kolkata, India and the M.S. degree from University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Her research interest includes adaptive beamforming, numerical optimization and adaptive filters.

Jorge R. Colón Berríos

Ph.D. student

Jorge received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, PR. His research interests include antenna arrays, millimeter-wave imaging, signal processing, millimeter-wave systems, and microwave wireless systems. He was the recipient of the Best Paper Award at the 2022 SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing conference.

Matt Dula

Ph.D. student

Matt received the B.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Baylor University, Waco, TX. His research interests include distributed antenna arrays, millimeter-wave systems, and signal processing. He was the recipient of an AP-S Fellowship in 2025, and was a finalist in the Student Paper Competition at WAMICON 2024.

Cory Hilton

Ph.D. student

Cory received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. His research interests include antenna design and optimization for high frequency applications. He won Second Place in the Student Design Contest at the 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation.

Derek Luzano

Ph.D. student

Derek received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, in 2023. His research interests include distributed radar and imaging, millimeter-wave imaging, antenna arrays, and signal processing.

Jacob Randall

Ph.D. student

Jacob received the B.S degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University in 2020. His research interests include dynamic distributed antennas and radar detection and tracking for automotive, aerospace, and defense applications. He won Second Place in the Student Design Contest at the 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation.

Anton Schlegel

Ph.D. student

Anton received the B.S. degree in computer engineering from Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. His research interests include wireless microwave and millimeter-wave systems, distributed antenna arrays, and signal processing. He was a recipient of the MSU Graduate Excellence Fellowship, and won First Place in the Student Design Contest at the 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation.

Naim Shandi

Ph.D. student

Naim received the B.S. and the M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, MI. Her research interests include antenna design, antenna arrays, millimeter-wave systems, radar and signal processing, microwave wireless systems, and the characterization of the electromagnetic properties of materials.

Sherwin Shiran

Ph.D. student

Sherwin received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from rom Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI in 2025. His research interests include distributed antenna arrays, software-defined radios, radar detection and tracking, communication systems, signal processing, and RF electronics.

Tyler Doiron

M.S. student

Tyler received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering and mathematics from Lamar University, Beaumont, TX. Her research interests include millimeter-wave systems, antenna arrays, radar signal processing, and optimization for automotive radar applications.