Spectrum Engineering Graduate Certificate

• Access to mobile communications is essential to thrive in a modern society....a fundamental right
• By 2025 >97% Internet connections will be wireless
• Broadband/mobile comms direct GNP relationship (all countries)
• Radars are critical to national defense, civilian aviation, and (increasingly) cars
• Earth observation satellites monitor weather, agriculture, pollution, fires, ...
• Radio Astronomy requires passive sensing of the spectrum for evolution of the universe scientific research
• New services and applications are driving demand for RF spectrum - e.g., streaming media, Internet of Things (IoT), mobile AR/VR

• No spectrum available for new services
• Spectrum sharing is increasingly required to meet demand
• Increasingly higher frequenceies are being exploited
• Need to provide RF spectrum access to existing (incumbent) services
• It is a national strategic imperative to enable professional workforce development in Spectrum Engineering

• Spectrum science (e.g., electromagnetics (EM), RF propagation measurement/modeling, ...)
• RF engineering (e.g., devices, antennas, ...)
• Computer science (e.g., software engineering, data structures and algorithms, HPC)
• Applied mathematics (e.g., optimization, approximation, computational mathematics)
• Data analytics (e.g., analysis and optimization, graphics, ...)
• Economics of spectrum (e.g., incentives, economic effects, ...)
• Policy and regulatory issues (e.g., spectrum sharing regimes, enforcement, ...)

• NIST and NTIA have both identified difficulties in recruiting talent
• NSF issued (May 2022) a Dear Colleague Letter addressing workforce development:
  • “...a critical need to train a future workforce with proficiency in the fundamentals of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics that enable further development of the electromagnetic spectrum as a resource (hereafter, "spectrum STEM"). This workforce must also have an awareness of interconnected spectrum-related technical, policy, regulatory, management, economic, and application issues needed to make effective decisions in abroad range of occupations.” 
• The Department of Defense (DoD) has budgeted $2.5B to the National Spectrum Consortium for the development of 5G with a mandate to accelerate the development, adoption and deployment of next-generation technologies
• The ITU has composed similar professional development resources
• The curriculum in the proposed Spectrum Engineering Graduate Certificate provides learners with a strong foundation in Signal Fundamentals, Spectrum Engineering Fundamentals, types of Spectrum Dependent Systems, Spectrum Management and Policy, and the value of the resources via Spectrum Economics.

As a result of completing the SPECTRUM certificate, learners will be able to: 

• Understand the importance of spectrum as a resource.
• Engineering I: Be able to identify all common spectrum services managed nationally and internationally.
• Engineering II: Understand how spectrum dependent systems – both active and passive – access and utilize the spectrum.
• Identify the organizations that manage policy and how they do it.
• Explain how economists think, communicate, and solve problems, and then apply to spectrum economics and policy.
• Be able to assess the economics and policy and understand tradeoffs for the spectrum market which is spectrum allocation on a regional basis and understand market failure - how does one decide how to allocate spectrum as a resource?
• Have a big picture understanding, including complex national and international issues.
• Clearly communicate the importance and primary characteristics of spectrum to a non-technical audience.

Students generally begin the program at the start of a typical academic year. We anticipate students can complete the program in 3 semesters, including a summer session. A typical course plan is outlined below:

Semester 1 (FA): 3-6 CR

• Introduction to Spectrum Systems Specialization, ECEA 5453-5455, (3 CR)
• Spectrum Engineering Fundamentals Specialization, ECEA 5450-5452 (3 CR)

Semester 2 (SP): 6 CR

• Spectrum Systems and Applications Specialization, ECEA 5456-5458 (3 CR)
• Spectrum Management and Policy Specialization, ECEA 5459-5461 (3 CR)
• Economics for Telecom Managers Specialization, ECEA 5462-5464 (3 CR)

The proposed Spectrum Engineering Graduate Certificate will appeal to individuals with a broad range of undergraduate education and/or professional experience in computer science, RF engineering, applied mathematics, data analytics, economics, policy, and regulatory issues, including: 

• Individuals looking to gain spectrum engineering skills to advance their careers.
• Individuals looking to strengthen their organization’s decision making.
• Individuals looking for flexible and convenient learning opportunities that fit into their busy professional and personal lives.
• Individuals looking for practical skills that they can apply immediately.

Consisting of four 3-credit hour courses from the MS-EE on Coursera master’s degree program, the Spectrum Engineering Graduate Certificate is an affordable way for learners to gain new skills and earn an industry-recognized credential. The Spectrum Engineering Certificate is a valuable credential on its own while also preparing students for future graduate study. It can be stacked toward the full MS-EE degree.

Spectrum engineering skills are in high demand: Government and industry lack a pipeline of spectrum engineers. 

NIST and NTIA have both identified difficulties in recruiting talent. NSF issued (May 2022) a Dear Colleague Letter addressing workforce development “...a critical need to train a future workforce with proficiency in the fundamentals of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics that enable further development of the electromagnetic spectrum as a resource (hereafter, "spectrum STEM"). This workforce must also be aware of interconnected spectrum-related technical, policy, regulatory, management, economic, and application issues needed to make effective decisions in a range of occupations abroad.” 

The Department of Defense (DoD) has budgeted $2.5B to the National Spectrum Consortium to develop 5G with a mandate to accelerate the development, adoption, and deployment of next-generation technologies. The ITU has composed similar professional development resources.