Shannon D. Blunt | |
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Alma mater | University of Missouri |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Radar Signal Processing, Radar Systems Engineering |
Institutions | University of Kansas |
Website | https://eecs.ku.edu/shannon-blunt |
Shannon D. Blunt is an American radar engineer and the Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at the University of Kansas (KU) in Lawrence, KS. He is Director of the KU Radar Systems & Remote Sensing Lab (RSL) and the Kansas Applied Research Lab (KARL).
Blunt grew up in New Madrid, Missouri, and was one of five valedictorians in the class of 1994 at New Madrid County Central High School. He then received B.S., M.S., and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri in 1999, 2000, and 2002. From 2002 to 2005 he worked as a radar engineer in the Radar Division of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, DC, joining the University of Kansas in 2005. His research interests are in sensor signal processing and system design with a particular emphasis on waveform diversity and spectrum sharing techniques, having made a variety of contributions that have been deployed in operational radar and sonar systems.
With a focus on the intersection between theoretical signal processing and radar systems engineering, Blunt has led the development of numerous radar research contributions, with many of these being experimentally demonstrated using open-air measurements. Some noteworthy examples, many of which are patented/patent-pending, include:
In 2008 Blunt received a Young Investigator Program (YIP) award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) to investigate radar-embedded communications.[26] In 2012 he received the Fred Nathanson Memorial Radar Award from the Aerospace & Electronic Systems Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for contributions to adaptive radar signal processing and waveform diversity.[27] In 2016 he was named a Fellow of the IEEE for contributions to radar waveform diversity and design.[28] In 2020 he received the IET Premium Award[29] for a 2018 paper[19] published in the IET Radar, Sonar & Navigation journal involving the practical realization of cognitive sense-and-notch radar operation. In 2021 he was short-listed for the IET A.F. Harvey Prize in radar & microwave engineering.[30]
Blunt has served the engineering profession in a variety of different capacities. From 2008-2020 he served on the Radar Systems Panel of the IEEE Aerospace & Electronic Systems Society, where he was Chair of the Conferences Committee from 2012-2018 and Panel Chair from 2018-2020. Since 2008 he has been on the Editorial Board for IET Radar, Sonar & Navigation and in 2022 was the Senior Editor for Radar Systems[31] for IEEE Transactions on Aerospace & Electronic Systems. In October 2022, he became the inaugural Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE Transactions on Radar Systems. He served as General Chair of the 2011 IEEE Radar Conferences in Kansas City, MO, and Technical Chair for the 2018, 2022, and 2023 IEEE Radar Conference in Oklahoma City, OK, New York City, NY, and San Antonio, TX.
He chaired the NATO SET-179 research task group (RTG) on Dynamic Waveform Diversity & Design, and participated in the NATO RTGs SET-182 on Radar Spectrum Engineering & Management and SET-227 on Cognitive Radar.
He has also held multiple advisory positions to the U.S. government, including serving as a subject matter expert (SME) on spectrum issues to DARPA, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research & Engineering (OUSD(R&E)), and the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP). From 2019-2021 he served on the U.S. President's Council of Advisors for Science & Technology (PCAST) and well as being an OSTP SME for America's Mid-Band Initiative (AMBIT) to enable nationwide 5G deployment.