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 received an 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.

Daniel Kent

Postdoc

Daniel received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2013, and the PhD in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan in 2026. He has worked at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio; the US Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) in Warren, Michigan; and has interned at Integrity Applications Incorporated and the Honda Research Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His research broadly spans across multiple areas within the autonomous vehicle domain, including localization, sensor fusion, multimodal datasets and data processing, synthetic data, domain adaptation, and automotive cybersecurity.

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.

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.

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.

Shivanshu Ojha

Ph.D. student

Shivanshu received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, in May 2026. His research interests include millimeter-wave and microwave imaging and systems, distributed antenna arrays for sensing and radar, computational optimization, and ultra-wide-bandgap and wide-bandgap semiconductor device optimization for RF applications.

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. She received an Honorable Mention in the Student Paper Contest at the 2026 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation.

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.