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How long have you been at CNDE or collaborating with CNDE? I’ve been with CNDE for almost 6 years, starting as a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering, and now working as a Research Staff Scientist.

Area(s) of expertise: My primary expertise is in microwave/millimeter-wave imaging, materials characterization, and computational electromagnetics. This includes a wide variety of skillsets: RF hardware and antenna design (including FPGA and PCB design), developing advanced imaging algorithms like synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and polarimetry, and creating custom high-performance simulation tools using techniques like mode-matching. Recently, I’ve been expanding into ultrasound NDE, applying similar signal processing and modeling principles to that domain.

Who or what inspired you to pursue your career in NDE? I initially got into NDE working as an undergraduate research assistant in microwave NDE with Dr. Reza Zoughi and Dr. Tayeb Al Qaseer. What has kept me around was the realization that NDE is a deeply interdisciplinary field, making my broad background in programming, circuit design, physics, and mathematics into crucial skills that allow me to innovate. I especially enjoy the challenging aspect of bringing many pieces together to solve real-world problems.

Briefly describe one of your technical contributions to the NDE field: One of my key contributions has been in advancing microwave polarimetry for NDE. Many standard microwave inspection methods are limited in their consideration of signal polarization, typically limited to a single polarization. As part of my research, I developed novel techniques using specialized antennas like radially- and dual-polarized probes, along with associated calibration and imaging algorithms. These tools allow the utilization of the full polarization state of the microwave signal to extract much more detailed information about a target, and I have successfully applied them to NDE problems such as determining the orientation of a crack and the characterization of fiber misalignment in composites. Now, I am leveraging CNDE’s multidisciplinary environment to extend these polarimetry techniques to the field of ultrasound inspection as well.

What advice would you give a researcher just starting out in the NDE field? My best advice is to embrace being a generalist. NDE is a broad field spanning disciplines such as physics, multiple engineering disciplines, computer science, and materials science. Your biggest breakthroughs will often come from connecting ideas from different domains. Even if your research is focused on microwave NDE, take the time to learn the fundamentals of ultrasound, eddy current, etc. The ability to see the parallels between techniques used in different NDE methodologies can really help you see the gaps in each and will set you apart from other researchers. In summary, if you remain curious and aren’t afraid to get out of your comfort zone, you will inevitably find interesting and innovative solutions.