Seckin Sahin Awarded Presidential Fellowship

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Seckin Sahin
Seckin Sahin, a Ph.D. student with a passion for electroscience, won the distinguished 2018-2019 Graduate School Presidential Fellowship at The Ohio State University, an award providing winners with one year of full-time financial support as they complete their dissertations. 

Sahin’s interest in electrical and computer engineering started at a young age when she found herself drawn to math and sciences. Professors at her undergraduate institute inspired her to push further and attend graduate school at Ohio State, which is respected internationally for its electromagnetics research.

“Lots of professors graduated from Ohio State and I knew that electroscience was there and a powerful lab to work in electromagnetics area, so that’s why I preferred to be [at Ohio State],” Sahin said.

Hearing former professors speak positively about Ohio State also influenced her to join the ElectroScience Lab, where she currently works while completing her Ph.D.

Sahin’s research focuses on designing antennas and microfabrications. She is particularly interested in designing 5th Generation (5G) antennas for mobile communications and hopes to work in that industry upon completing her Ph.D.

Antenna-integrated transceivers are viable solutions as the backbone of future 5G wireless networks. Seckin’s antenna arrays can be integrated directly onto electronics chips for the first time, achieving an unprecedented coverage that spans most of the bands allocated for mobile communications.

The graduate student currently studies under the guidance of Ohio State Associate Professor Kubilay Sertel, who is thrilled with Sahin’s success.

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“Seckin's research in millimeter-wave on-chip array design, fabrication, and testing is truly groundbreaking. She has developed novel antenna prototypes that can address the demanding requirements of 5G communications systems, automotive radars and other future applications,” Sertel said. “I am delighted by her recognition as a Presidential Fellow as I sincerely believe that her research will have broader societal impact and she will continue her successful career and become one of the leaders in the field.”

A six-month internship at Google’s Pixel Mobile Hardware Research and Development Unit is already giving Sahin a head start working in her dream industry. Her current role involves helping to design 5G antennas for future phones. She is also excited to serve in a position directly related to her studies at Ohio State.

Living in Silicon Valley this year, she said, was an experience that made her realize the Ohio State connection is powerful, well-respected and helped her get an internship at Google in the first place.

“In big companies like Google or Apple, there are lots of students from the Ohio State ElectroScience Lab,” Sahin said. “…Whenever people are thinking out there, ‘Wow those students are from Ohio State. We know that’s a really good school,’ I’m actually proud of that… [Ohio State] is very good in electromagnetics so it’s well known in Silicon Valley.”

When Sahin received the news she won the Presidential Fellowship, she felt gratified the hard work toward her Ph.D. was paying off.

“I was very happy and proud to get this award, and I will do my best to improve myself in this area and finish my Ph.D. with a success,” Sahin said.

Sahin was joined by fellow graduate Electrical and Computer Engineering student Kexing Lai among the Autumn 2018 Presidential Fellows.

Article by Isabel Hall, ECE Student Public Relations Writer