Neil Rogers, PhD

RF Field Applications Engineer, Analog Devices
Colorado Springs, CO
livethisdream@gmail.com | Linkedin | Google Scholar

ABOUT ME

I am a technology builder with proven expertise in tackling the hardest problems, by collaborating and elevating others along the way. I look at everything I see and ask, “how can I make this better?” adding value to everything I touch is my greatest professional passion. I excel in a team environment and bring a proactive, positive attitude to every situation. I aim to contribute to meaningful, high-impact R&D while cultivating a team culture rooted in technical depth, integrity, and trust.

HIGHLIGHTS

System Focus

• Proven record of technical excellence

• Multiple publications in applications of Software Defined Radios & electromagnetics.

• Multi-domain technical expertise

Software Defined Radios

• Experience in prototyping using all types of SDRS

• Developed autonomous passive RFDF cUAS system

• Built low-cost prototype Qi demodulator/decoder

• Created SDR-based RF reverse-engineering curriculum for undergraduate course

• Transitioned novel video detector-jammer from COTS hardware to SDR platform

Communications

• Recognized throughout GNURadio community for technical proficiency & instructional expertise.

• Developed GNURadio implementation of secure communications protocol.

• Generated dozens of GNURadio prototype flowgraphs to illustrate key communications applications.

Intangibles

• Trusted advisor and mentor for tomorrow’s brightest engineers and leaders

• Visionary: excels at generating buy-in & momentum

• Connector: brings people, teams, and processes together to solve problems.

• Everyday learner: constantly seeks new challenges

Feedback

Neil is the heart & soul of the ECE dept…

Department Head

Peerless leader with technical depth!

Senior Leader

Neil is a key driver in the GNURadio community.

GNURadio President

SKILLS

Software Defined Radios

• Gnuradio | SDR Angel | URH | GQRX | Sceptre | FLDigi | Direwolf

• RADAR & Electronic Warfare | Secure communications

• Signal detection & reverse engineering

Electromagnetics

• Measurement | Theory & Simulation | Material characterization

• Complex media | Metamaterials & applications

• Antenna Design, Characterization & Novel Applications

Other

• High Powered Microwave Systems | Counter Small Unmanned Aerial Systems | Robotics

• Python | MATLAB | ROS | BASH | HFSS | CST Microwave Studio

• Technical Writing | LaTeX

• TS/SCI Eligible

EDUCATION

PhD in Electrical Engineering

Air Force Institute of Technology | OH

DISSERTATION: “NONDESTRUCTIVE ELECTROMAGNETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF UNIAXIAL MATERIALS”

• Developed rigorous theory, model, simulation, and novel measurement technique to extract constitutive parameters from complex media.

• Characterized various materials to evaluate for stealth applications.

MS in Electrical Engineering

Air Force Institute of Technology | OH

THESIS: “ELECTRON MULTIPACTOR: THEORY REVIEW, COMPARISON AND MODELING OF MITIGATION TECHNIQUES IN ICEPIC”

• Developed simulation to evaluate electron avalanche in HPM sources,

• Work is the cornerstone for developing mitigation techniques for destructive phenomenon.

BS in Electrical Engineering

UNIVERSITY OF TULSA | Tulsa, OK

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

RF FIELD APPLICATIONS ENGINEER

Analog Devices, Inc. | Colorado Springs, CO | 2025-Present

• Supports RF-focused Aerospace and Defense customers in developing distruptive solutions to RADAR, communications, and EW problems.

• Develops and proposes new products to Product Teams to fill customers’ needs.

• Trains customers on ADI solutions and prodcuts.

PRINCIPAL SCIENTIST I

Electromagnetic Applications

Lakewood, CO

June 2025-Sept 2025

• Guides long-term strategy on $4.2M in RF-focused engineering consulting, simulation, and development projects.

• As senior technical lead for RF, provides guidance and advice to scientists on one-of-a-kind Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3) engineering projects, including direct and indirect effects of lightning, EMI/EMC, HIRF, antenna development/characterization, and antenna cosite characterization/mitigation.

• Develops and maintains new customer relationships by developing proposals and delivering software, consulting, measurement, and analysis tools to support design and certification of aerospace & defense platforms.

• Plans, executes, and reports on tests to support E3 certification of customer systems, in accordance with MIL-HDBK-516C, ARP-5416, MIL-STD-461G, MIL-STD-464D, etc.

• Mentors young engineers to build technical proficiency, systems engineering acumen, critical thinking, technical writing, and presentation/public speaking skills.

SENIOR MILITARY FACULTY AND ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ECE

United States Air Force Academy | USAFA, CO | 2021-2025

• Guides long-term military, academic, and research strategies to keep the department aligned with Air Force operational needs and ABET accreditation requirements.

• Directs department’s research efforts; forges and maintains relationships for dozens of commercial and DoD organizations- prepares cadets for rigorous summer research and beyond.

• Mentors senior design capstone team in developing autonomous radio frequency direction finding system to provide attribution of enemy drone operators.

• Develops and maintains innovative research pipeline from cadet entry to graduation to prepare over 100 cadets for conducting graduate-level research and careers beyond.

• Directs 6 ECE courses from intro to senior level, as Course Director and Senior Course Mentor.

• Revamping/modemizing Communications Systems curriculum to meet emerging EW needs & provide cadets with critical radio skills.

• Advises dozens of ECE cadets and undeclared freshmen to ensure maximum academic success and officer development.

• Supervises 3 technicians responsible for $3M worth of equipment, 8 physical labs, 10 courses, and over 900 cadets per year.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

United States Air Force Academy | USAFA, CO | 2018-2021

• Directed all aspects of the Department’s largest course-led 10+ instructors to teach survey course for over 1150 cadets per year. Ensured all course objectives met and breezed through ABET certification.

• Rewrote over 75% of USAFA core course to better prepare cadets for leadership in the most technologically advanced Air Force in the world.

• Developed 5 new lessons, edited 35, built over 30 new assessments.

• Advised and mentored 22 cadets; ensuring graduation requirements met and mentoring future generations of USAF officers.

• Mentored counter-Unmanned Aerial System (CUAS) senior capstone project, led to successful development of framework to integrate and fuse multi-sensor data for target identification, tracking, and mitigation.

• Personally introduced new grading software to USAFA; trained several departments and secured yearly funding-cadets and faculty rave about it, reduced grading time by at least 50%.

DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING, JSTARS RECAPITALIZATION

Theater Battle Management, AF Life Cycle Management Center | Hanscom AFB, MA | 2014-2018

• Led 120-member division’s technical efforts and advised Senior Program Manager on $8.2B JSTARS Recap program.

• Drove assessment of three $25M designs, convinced Air Force leadership of technical maturity and secured milestone B decision.

• Developed and implemented benchmark Model-Based Systems Engineering plan for $3.2B procurement, ensured traceability of over 900 requirements to design specifications,

DIRECTOR OF INSPECTIONS AND EXERCISES

379 Air Expeditionary Wing | Al Udeid, QT | 2016

• Led all inspection activities for 5 groups and 22 squadrons in busiest CENTCOM Wing.

• Shepherded 124-member exercise team; simulated KC-135 mishap and verified effectiveness of multi-national response procedures.

• Completely revamped IG processes by developing brand new reporting and tracking tools-closed 311 deficiencies and slashed report time by 45%.

PHD STUDENT

Air Force Institute of Technology | WPAFB, OH | 2011-2014

• Developed benchmark technique for the nondestructive electromagnetic evaluation of complex media, enabling design/verification of next-generation systems.

CHIEF, COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS SECTION

Directed Energy Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory | Kirtland AFB, NM | 2010-2011

• Supervised 20-person in-house team of military, civilian and contractors in performing cutting edge modeling and simulation on High Power Microwave (HPM) Sources and Systems.

• Responsible for day-to-day operations and providing strategic guidance.

• Managed/Directed $2.2M/year DoD-level software institute to develop novel end-to-end modeling and simulation capability for high performance computing assets.

• Performed advanced modeling and simulation on HPM sources using FDTD and FEFD code.

CHIEF, ACTIVE DENIAL SECTION

Directed Energy Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory | Kirtland AFB, NM | 2009-2010

• Led 16-person in-house team of military, civilian and contractors to manage all acquisition, research, test and transition activities.

• Served as Active Denial Technology Engineer-provided technical expertise to the program manager across a diverse spectrum of engineering disciplines; led $250k per year R&D effort to expand system use cases.

MASTERS STUDENT

Air Force Institute of Technology | WPAFB, OH | 2007-2009

• Graduate research involved development of mitigation techniques for destructive phenomena in HPM Devices.

• Academic specialties include Electromagnetics, Plasma Physics and Directed Energy Weapons.

• Graduated with honors.

PROJECT MANAGER, THERMAL INFRARED EXPLOITATION TOOLS

National Air and Space Intelligence Center | WPAFB, OH | 2005-2007

• Responsible for management and implementation of $15M contract to develop multidisciplinary software tools for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance exploitation systems, including thermal infrared data collection and analysis.

THERMAL INFRARED ANALYST

National Air and Space Intelligence Center | WPAFB, OH | 2004-2005

• Derived scientific/technical performance parameters of foreign weapon systems for use by the operational, acquisition and national decision-making communities.

• Performed software testing and evaluation for $10M exploitation package for national level use.

TEACHING

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY

ECE 315: PRINCIPLES OF AF ELECTRONIC AND CYBER SYSTEMS

• Instructor: Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2024

• Course Director: Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020

• Rewrote 75% of the course materials

ECE 346: ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATH WITH ECE APPLICATIONS

• Instructor: Fall 2018-Fall 2024

• Course Director: Fall 2019-Fall 2024

• Senior Course Mentor

• Assisted in development of course from scratch

ECE 215: PRINCIPLES OF AF ELECTRONIC AND CYBER SYSTEMS

• Instructor: Fall 2022

• Course Director: Spring 2023

ECE 343: ELECTROMAGNETICS

• Instructor: Spring 2021-Spring 2025

• Course Director: Spring 2022-Spring 2025

• Senior Course Mentor

• Pioneered brand-new hands-on labs

ECE 448: INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIOS

• Instructor: Spring 2021-Spring 2025

• Course Director: Spring 2022-Spring 2025

• Senior Course Mentor

• Developed course from scratch

ECE 447: INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

• Instructor: Fall 2023-Fall 2024

• Senior Course Mentor

• Introduced practical SDR applications (≈ 15 lessons)

Publications

PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES

Nondestructive Electromagnetic Characterization of Uniaxial Sheet Media Using a Two-Flanged Rectangular Waveguide Probe | N. Rogers, M. Havrilla, M. Hyde, A. Knisely | IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement | July 2019

Dyadic Green’s Functions for a Parallel Plate Waveguide Filled with Anisotropic Uniaxial Media | N. Rogers and M. Havrilla | Progress in Electromagnetics Research-B (PIERB), Vol. 63 | 2015

REFEREED CONFERENCE PAPERS (ABSTRACT REVIEWED)

Applying an Alternative Grading Methodology to an Advanced Engineering Mathematics Course | N. Rogers and K. Fair | American Society of Engineering Educators Conference | June 2025

A Modern, Two-Course Undergraduate Communications Sequence | N. Rogers and G. Dudevoir | GNURadio Conference | September 2024

Enhanced Learning by Visualization Applying Embedded Hands-On in Electromagnetics Class | H. Kim, N. Rogers, G. York, P. Leiffer | ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition | June 2024

Novel Implementation of a Keyless Concurrent Codes Spread-Spectrum (CCSS) Jam-Resistant Method in GNU Radio | N. Rogers, J. Morrison, and W. Bahn | GNURadio Conference | September 2022

A Nondestructive Technique for Determining Complex Permittivity and Permeability of Uniaxially Anisotropic Sheet Materials Using Two Flanged Rectangular Waveguides | N. Rogers, M. Havrilla, and M. Hyde | URSI National Radio Science Meeting | July 2014

Transmission Correction Term for Oblique Incidence Free-Space Measurements | N. Rogers | Material Measurement Working Group | March 2014

Dyadic Green’s Functions for a Parallel Plate Waveguide Filled with Uniaxial Media | N. Rogers and M. Havrilla | URSI National Radio Science Meeting | January 2014

2.5 MW Active Denial Technology Gyrotron: Background and Updates | P. Mardahl and N. Rogers | 13th Annual Directed Energy Symposium

Nov 2010

Two technical posters (titles unreleasable) | N. Rogers | 13th Annual Directed Energy Symposium | Nov 2010

Multipactor Discharge Mitigation in High Powered Microwave (HPM) Systems | N. Rogers and W. Bailey | American Physical Society, 2008 Joint Meeting | Oct 2008

SHORT COURSES

Reverse Engineering Signals with GNURadio | GNURADIO CONFERENCE | Sept 2025

Getting Started with GNURadio in the Classroom | GNURADIO CONFERENCE | Sept 2024

High Powered Microwave High Performance Short Course | 14TH ANNUAL DIRECTED ENERGY SYMPOSIUM | Nov 2011

ICEPIC Short Course | AIR FORCE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | Jan 2011

Honors & Awards

• 2025 - Winner, Team of the Year (Quantum Engineering Minor), DF, USAFA, CO

• 2021 - Winner, Outstanding Educator of the Year, DFEC, USAFA, CO

• 2017 - Winner, Division Field Grade Officer of the Year, AFLCMC, Hanscom AFB, MA

• 2017 - Winner, Base Field Grade Officer of the Quarter, Hanscom AFB, MA

• 2016 - Winner, Wing Field Grade Officer & Team of the Quarter, 379 AEW, Al Udeid, QT

• 2015 - Winner, Wing Field Grade Officer of the Year, AFLCMC, Hanscom AFB, MA

• 2010 - Winner, Directorate Tech Team of the Quarter, AFRL, Kirtland AFB, NM

• 2010 - Honorable Mention, Directorate Tech Team of the Year, AFRL, Kirtland AFB, NM

• 2009 - Induction, Tau Beta Pi Honor Society, AFIT, WPAFB, OH

• 2008 - Induction, Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society, AFIT, WPAFB, OH

• 2006 - Winner, Company Grade Officer of the Quarter, NASIC, WPAFB, OH

• 2003 - Winner, John L. Luggenheim Award for Outstanding Achievement in EE, Tulsa, OK

PERSONAL

Family

• Kristi: wife of 20 years
• Judah: son, 15 years old
• Ezra: son, 13 years old
• Luka: son, 10 years old
• Aviana: daughter, 8 years old

Interests & Activities

• Crossfit, Snowboarding
• Watching Premier League Soccer
• Working on my truck
• Playing Guitar
• GNURadio tinkering

Community Involvement

• GNURadio Conference Technical Chair, 2025
• USAFA Falcon Crossfit Officer-in-Charge, 2021-2025
• Band Member (2006-Present), Church Band Leader (2006-2009, 2015)
• Small Group Leader (2005-2022)
• Led collection of 1k+ Operation Christmas Child Boxes (2016-2018)
• Youth Ministry Leader (2005-2007)
• Youth Soccer Coach (2014-2015, 2018-2019)
• Led and organized STEM outreach for 7k+ students at annual SpaceFest (2013)
• Elementary math tutor (2011-2014)
• Monthly volunteer at Target Dayton Homeless Shelter (2005-2009)