Steve E. Watkins is a faculty member (1989-Present) at Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly University of Missouri-Rolla or UMR) and is currently a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.  His technical interests include smart sensor systems, fiber optics, imaging, and engineering education.  He received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989 and M.S.E.E. and B.S.E.E. degrees from UMR in 1985 and 1983, respectively. 

He was a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the US Air Force Academy, a 2004 IEEE-USA Congressional Fellow, the Faculty-Member-in-Residence for the 2005 Washington Internships for Students of Engineering (WISE) Program, a visiting physicist for the U.S.A.F. Phillips Laboratory at the Kirtland Air Force Base, and a visiting scholar for Nippon Telegraph and Telephone in Japan.  At Missouri S&T, he has been the Associate Chair for Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Studies and faculty advisor to the Gamma Theta Chapter (1992-Present) and Tau Beta Pi (2014-Present).  His accomplishments include project coordinator for the campus Smart Composite Bridge project and as a contributor in the creation of the IEEE Student Ethics Competition.

In addition to Eta Kappa Nu, Dr. Watkins is a member of Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi, and Sigma Xi and he is active in IEEE (S’80-M’90-SM-98), SPIE-The Society for Optical Engineering (Fellow), and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).  His awards include IEEE-USA 2016 Jim Watson Student Professional Achievement Award, IEEE 2005 Region 5 Outstanding Member, IEEE RAB Achievement Award, IEEE 1999 Region 5 Outstanding Educator, HKN 1993 Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer Finalist, and HKN 1983 Alton B. Zerby Outstanding EE Student.

Safa Salman was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1989. She received the B.S. degree (summa cum laude) from the University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, in 2010 with an honors degree from the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, Oxford, Mississippi. She received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree at the ElectroScience Laboratory, The Ohio State University, OH, USA, in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Her research areas include Broadband arrays, biomedical applications of antennas, implanted antennas, ablation techniques and wearable continuous time health monitoring sensors. Currently, she is an Application Engineer II at ANSYS Inc. in Irvine, CA.

Safa is a member of IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu (IEEE-HKN)

About ANSYS Inc.

Founded in 1970, ANSYS employs nearly 3,000 professionals, many of whom are expert M.S. and Ph.D.-level engineers in finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, electronics, semiconductors, embedded software, and design optimization. Our exceptional staff is passionate about pushing the limits of world-class simulation technology so our customers can turn their design concepts into successful, innovative products faster and at lower cost.  

Dr. Ye Cheng is a manager on the Education Customer Success team at MathWorks. The team's mission is to help faculty members around the world better utilize MATLAB in teaching and research. Ye holds PhD and MS degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, specialized in advanced imaging techniques for the study of turbulence and multiphase flow. Ye also has several years of teaching experience in senior-level mechanical engineering laboratories prior to MathWorks.

MathWorks is the leading developer of mathematical computing software. Engineers and scientists worldwide rely on its products to accelerate the pace of discovery, innovation, and development. MATLAB and Simulink have been widely adopted in the academic community to help make technical education more authentic and tangible. More than 5,000 universities around the world use these products for teaching and research in a broad range of technical disciplines. Founded in 1984, MathWorks employs more than 3500 people in 15 countries, with headquarters in Natick, Massachusetts, USA.

Tom Coughlin, President, Coughlin Associates is a widely respected digital storage analyst as well as business and technology consultant.  He has over 35 years in the data storage industry with engineering and management positions at high profile companies. 

Dr. Coughlin has many publications and six patents to his credit.  Tom is also the author of Digital Storage in Consumer Electronics:  The Essential Guide, which is now in its second edition with Springer. Coughlin Associates provides market and technology analysis as well as Data Storage Technical and Business Consulting services.  Tom publishes the Digital Storage Technology Newsletter, the Media and Entertainment Storage Report, the Emerging Non-Volatile Memory Reportand other industry reports.  Tom is also a regular contributor on digital storage for Forbes.com and other blogs.

Tom is active with SMPTE (Journal article writer and Conference Program Committee), SNIA (including a founder of the SNIA SSSI), the IEEE, (he is past Chair of the IEEE Public Visibility Committee, Past Director for IEEE Region 6, President Elect for IEEE USA and active in the Consumer Electronics Society) and other professional organizations.  Tom is the founder and organizer of the Annual Storage Visions Conference (www.storagevisions.com as well as the Creative Storage Conference (www.creativestorage.org). He was the general chairman of the annual Flash Memory Summit for 10 years.  He is a Fellow of the IEEE and a member of the Consultants Network of Silicon Valley (CNSV).  For more information on Tom Coughlin and his publications and activities go to www.tomcoughlin.com.

Orin Laney became interested in electronics when he built his first crystal radio at age twelve. He is originally from the Washington DC area and received his BSEE from the University of Maryland, followed by pauses in his career to earn an MBA from Brigham Young University and an MSEE from San Jose State. He has certification as an electromagnetic compatibility engineer, is a licensed professional engineer, and is an active IEEE senior life member, an entrepreneur, and business owner.

Mr. Laney enjoys video and high speed analog design, writing, and public speaking. Today, he is busier than ever, designing, researching, and making deals.

Dennis Leitterman's career with the Hewlett-Packard Company focused on the computer sector, and spanned ~30 years in the Silicon Valley.  He worked in engineering management, project management, software licensing, product marketing, and business development.  His experience ranges from architecting key network solutions to managing strategic relationships.  He pioneered network consulting for technical systems, and his team managed the computer networking portion of the top 20 strategic business deals for the corporation.  Entrepreneurial and global perspectives were developed through start-up businesses within HP.  For seven years, he managed revenue/profitability for accounts averaging $500M annually in PC business.  During a college cooperative engineering training program, he performed electrical engineering design and drafting for construction projects with government and private practice.

Mr. Leitterman earned BSEE and MSEE degrees from the Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly Univ of MO-Rolla), and is a licensed professional engineer in California.  He has received numerous honors including the IEEE Third Millennium Medal, IEEE Centennial Medal, HP Achievers Club (twice), and CSPE Young Engineer of the Year.  Later this year, he is receiving the Frank H. Mackaman Alumni Volunteer Service Award in a ceremony at Missouri S&T.

Dennis is currently serving as Chair of the IEEE-HKN Alumni Committee, Chair of the IEEE San Francisco Bay Area HKN Alumni Chapter, President of the Miner Alumni Association Bay Area Section, Treasurer of the HP Retired Employees Club, and President of the Chancel Choir in his church.  He is a Senior Member of IEEE.  Past volunteer offices include National Director–Eta Kappa Nu, Finance Director–IEEE San Francisco Bay Area Council, Chairman–IEEE Santa Clara Valley (SCV) Section, Chairman–IEEE Computer Society SCV Chapter, Chairman of the Board–WESCON Electronics Conference and Exhibition, Vice President–National Society of Professional Engineers, Chairman–NSPE/Professional Engineers in Industry, President–California Society of Professional Engineers SCV Chapter, President–Academy of Electrical and Computer Engineering (Missouri S&T), and Director–Miner Alumni Association (MSM/UMR/S&T).