Shannon Blunt

Shannon Blunt
  • Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor, EECS
  • Director | Radar Systems Laboratory (RSL)

Contact Info

785-864-7326
Nichols Hall Room 357
Lawrence
2335 Irving Hill Rd
Lawrence, KS 66045
Eaton Hall Room 3034

Personal Links

Biography —

Dr. Shannon D. Blunt is the Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS) at the University of Kansas (KU), Director of the KU Radar Systems Lab (RSL), and Director of the Kansas Applied Research Lab (KARL). He received a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri in 2002, and from 2002 until he joined KU in 2005 he was with the Radar Division of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, D.C. 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.

Prof. Blunt received an AFOSR Young Investigator Award in 2008, the IEEE/AESS Nathanson Memorial Radar Award in 2012, was named a Fellow of the IEEE for “contributions to radar waveform diversity and design” in 2016, was appointed to the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST) in 2019, and received the 2020 IET Radar, Sonar & Navigation Premium Award. He has likewise received multiple teaching awards. He has over 200 refereed journal, conference, and book chapter publications, and 19 patents/patents-pending. He co-edited the books Principles of Waveform Diversity & Design (2010) and Radar & Communication Spectrum Sharing (2018). His research has been supported by over $16M in funding from NRL, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Army Research Laboratory (ARL), the Army Research Office (ARO), the Department of Energy (DoE), Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and multiple industry partners.

He has served as a subject matter expert (SME) on topics related to radar spectrum management and sharing for DARPA, the Air Force's S&T 2030 Initiative, the National Spectrum Consortium, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering (OUSD(R&E)), and the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP), the latter as part of America's Mid-Band Initiative Team (AMBIT) to enable nationwide 5G deployment. He served as Chair of the IEEE/AESS Radar Systems Panel and on the Board of Governors for the IEEE Aerospace & Electronic Systems Society (AESS). He is the inaugural Editor-in-Chief for IEEE Transactions on Radar Systems, is on the Editorial Board for IET Radar, Sonar & Navigation, and served in different editorial roles for IEEE Transactions on Aerospace & Electronic Systems. He was General Chair of the 2011 IEEE Radar Conference in Kansas City and Technical Chair of the 2018, 2022, and 2023 IEEE Radar Conferences in Oklahoma City, New York City, and San Antonio, respectively, along with being a member of the Program Committee for the MSS Tri-Service Radar Symposium series. He was Chair of the NATO SET-179 research task group on “Dynamic Waveform Diversity & Design” and a member of SET-182 on “Radar Spectrum Engineering & Management” and SET-227 on “Cognitive Radar”.

Education —

Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, University of Missouri, 2002, Columbia, MO
M.S. in Electrical Engineering, University of Missouri, 2000, Columbia, MO
B.S. in Electrical Engineering, University of Missouri, 1999, Columbia, MO

Teaching —

  • EECS 412 Electronic Circuits II
  • EECS 420 Electromagnetics II
  • EECS 644 Digital Signal Processing
  • EECS 844 Adaptive Signal Processing
  • Tutorial on "Spectrum Engineering & Waveform Diversity" at IEEE Radar Conference series in collaboration with Prof. Hugh Griffiths of University College London

Awards & Honors —

Fred Nathanson Memorial Radar Award, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society, 2012

Bellows Scholar, School of Engineering, University of Kansas, 2010

Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Award, 2007

KU Miller Professional Development Award for Research, 2008

Harry Talley Excellence in Teaching Award, 2008

NRL Alan Berman Research Publication Award, 2004,2006, and 2007

IEEE Fellow, 2016

Service —

  • Director, Kansas Applied Research Lab (KARL) (2018-present)
  • Director, KU Radar Systems & Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSL) (2011-present)
  • Inaugural Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Trans. Radar Systems (2022-present)
  • Senior Editor for Radar Systems, IEEE Trans. Aerospace and Electronic Systems (2022)
  • Associate Editor, IEEE Trans. Aerospace and Electronic Systems (2008-2021)
  • Editorial Board, IET Radar, Sonar, & Navigation (2008-present)
  • Chair, IEEE/AESS Radar Systems Panel (2018-2020)
  • Member, IEEE/AESS Radar Systems Panel (2008-2020)
  • Member, IEEE/AESS Board of Governors (2018-2019)
  • Technical Chair, 2023 IEEE Radar Conference, San Antonio, TX
  • Technical Chair, 2022 IEEE Radar Conference, New York City, NY
  • Technical Chair, 2018 IEEE Radar Conference, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Chair, Conferences Committee, IEEE/AESS Radar Systems Panel (2012-2018)
  • Chair, IEEE/AESS Nathanson Memorial Award Committee (2014-2018)
  • Contributed to update of IEEE Standard 686 - Standard Radar Definitions (2016)
  • Faculty Advisor, KU IEEE student chapter (2012-2015)
  • General Chair, 2011 IEEE Radar Conference, Kansas City, MO

Memberships —

Fellow of IEEE

IEEE Signal Processing Society

IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society

IEEE AESS Radar Systems Panel

Tau Beta Pi

Eta Kappa Nu

Associate Editor for IEEE Trans. AES and Editorial Board of IET Radar, Sonar, & Navigation

International Research Engagement

  • Technical Evaluator, NATO SET-265 research specialists' meeting on Compressive Sensing, Salamanca, Spain (2019)
  • Member, NATO SET-227 research task group on Cognitive Radar (2015-2017)
  • Chair, NATO SET-179 research task group on Dynamic Waveform Diversity & Design (2011-2014)
  • Co-Chair, NATO SET-204 research specialists' meeting on Waveform Diversity, Berlin, Germany (2014)
  • Member, NATO SET-182 research task group on Radar Spectrum Engineering & Management (2011-2014)

Graduate Students

  • Jennifer Quirk, currently pursuing PhD EE
  • Bahozhoni White, currently pursuing MS EE
  • David Felton, currently pursuing MS EE
  • Rachel Chang, currently pursuing MS EE
  • Ibikunle Oluwanisola, currently pursuing PhD EE (co-advising with Dr. John Paden)
  • Matthew Heintzelman, currently pursuing MS EE
  • Thomas Kramer (MS EE), currently pursuing PhD EE, now with Honeywell FM&T in Kansas City, MO
  • Daniel Herr, currently pursuing PhD EE (co-advising with Prof. Jim Stiles)
  • Christian Jones, currently pursuing PhD EE
  • Dr. Jonathan Owen (PhD EE), now a Research Asst. Professor at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
  • Dr. Brandon Ravenscroft (PhD EE), now with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, MD
  • Dr. Lumumba Harnett (PhD EE, MS EE), now with Leidos, Inc. in Arlington, VA
  • Zeus Gannon (MS EE), now at University of Central Florida pursuing PhD EE (co-advised with Prof. Chris Allen)
  • Dr. Charles Mohr (PhD EE, MS EE), now with the Sensors Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH
  • Dr. Shadi Pir Hosseinloo (PhD EE), now with the acoustics team at Apple (co-advised with Prof. Jon Brumberg of KU Dept. of Speech, Language, Hearing)
  • Dr. Mohanad Al-Ibadi (PhD EE), now with the Engineering Technical College of Najaf in Najaf, Iraq (co-advised with Dr. John Paden)
  • Dana Hemmingsen (MS EE), now with Honeywell FM&T in Kansas City, MO
  • Garrett Zook (MS EE), now with L3 Advanced Systems & Technology in Plano, TX
  • Dr. Patrick McCormick (PhD EE), was with the Sensors Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, now an Asst. Prof. in the KU EECS Department.
  • Dr. Peng Seng (Isaac) Tan (PhD EE), now with Eaton Cooper Lighting in Peachtree City, GA (co-advised with Prof. Jim Stiles)
  • Audrey Seybert (MS EE), now with Honeywell FM&T in Kansas City, MO (co-advised with Prof. Chris Allen)
  • Dakota Henke (MS EE), was with Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM, and is now with KBR in Ann Arbor, MI
  • Erik Hornberger (MS EE), now with Sumitomo Heavy Industries in Yokohama, Japan
  • Lane Ryan (MS EE), now with Honeywell FM&T in Kansas City, MO (co-advised with Prof. Chris Allen)
  • Dr. Justin Metcalf (PhD EE, MS EE), was with AFRL Sensors Directorate, now an Asst. Professor at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
  • John Jakabosky (MEng EECS), now with the Radar Division of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC
  • Matthew Cook (MS EE), now with Garmin in Olathe, KS
  • Casey Biggs (MS EE), now with 13iggs Consulting in Lawrence, KS
  • Tsz Ping (Charley) Chan (MS EE), now with Bloomberg L.P. in New York, NY
  • Padmaja Yatham (MS EE), now with La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia
  • Dr. William Dower (MS EE), now with Raytheon in El Segundo, CA and also received PhD EE from the University of Oklahoma in 2017
  • Dr. Thomas Higgins (PhD EE, MS EE), now with the Radar Division of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC

Supervised Theses/Dissertations