Vladimir Okhmatovski, Jonatan Aronsson, Ian Jeffrey, Costas Sarris, Kemal Aygun, Constantine Sideris, Werner Thiel
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Founded in 2014, the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S) International Conference on Numerical Electromagnetic and Multiphysics Modeling and Optimization (NEMO) has become a popular annual event for exchanging novel ideas in computational and applied electromagnetics, multiphysics simulations, and optimization methods. Rotating between North America, Asia, and Europe, the conference brings together leading academic and industry experts within the MTT-S and beyond, with particularly broad participation in 2023 ensured through the availability of both online and in-person options for attendance.
Our goal for NEMO 2023 was to serve as a forum for sharing the latest developments in electromagnetic computer-aided design methodologies, disruptive computational technologies, and impactful applications in this field. The technical agenda of NEMO 2023 was balanced to showcase both academic research and industry breakthroughs. This included several academic keynotes: “Role of Microwave Remote Sensing in Addressing the Water Puzzle Amid Our Changing Climate,” delivered by Prof. Mahta Moghaddam from the University of Southern California; “Accelerated Green Function Methods for Electromagnetic Simulation, Optimization and Design,” by Prof. Oscar Bruno from the California Institute of Technology; “Computational Techniques and Design Automation for Semiconductors,” by Prof. Dan Jiao from Purdue University; and “Algorithms and Systems For Quantitative Electromagnetic Imaging,” by Prof. Joe LoVetri from the University of Manitoba. Furthermore, renowned experts presented two industry-focused keynotes. Dr. Larry Williams from Ansys gave a plenary talk titled “See the Big Picture With Advanced Engineering Simulation,” and Dr. Rajen Murugan from Texas Instruments presented a keynote lecture on “Multiphysics Modeling in Semiconductor Design.”
The core of the technical program consisted of focused and specialized sessions organized by top-tier research groups. Additionally, a workshop on Fast Algorithms of Computational Physics, delivered by Dr. Yang Liu and Dr. Pieter Ghysels from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, was a highlight of the technical program. NEMO 2023 was further enriched by extensive industry engagement, including an expert panel from Meta (Dr. Wendem Beyene), Intel (Dr. Kinger Cai), HP Enterprise (Dr. Chris Cheng), Nvidia (Dr. Jose Hejase), and Texas Instruments (Dr. Rajen Murugan) on The Simulation Challenges in Signal and Power Integrity Analysis. The panel was organized and moderated by Dr. Kemal Aygün (Intel), Dr. Jonatan Aronsson (CEMWorks), and Dr. Werner Thiel (Ansys). Exhibits from leading electromagnetic simulation companies including Ansys, Sonnet Software, CEMWorks, and Xpeedic further reinforced the industry’s commitment to NEMO 2023.
The excellent technical program synergistically representing both academic and industry contributions was put together by the NEMO 2023 Technical Program Committee chaired by Prof. Costas Sarris (University of Toronto) and cochaired by Dr. Kemal Aygün (Intel), Prof. Constantine Sideris (University of Southern California), and Dr. Werner Thiel (Ansys).
Dedicated efforts of the special session organizers (in parentheses) resulted in 13 focused sessions on diverse topics of MTT-S interests, such as space mapping (F. Feng, Q. Cheng, and Q.-J. Zhang); fast algorithms of CEM (A. Yucel and V. Okhmatovski); modeling-based wideband EM characterization of materials (M. Celuch); commercial tools (C.J. Reddy); numerical methods and optimization for detection and imaging (I. Jeffrey, C. Gilmore, and J. LoVetri); advances in integral equations for CEM (E. Ubeda and V. Okhmatovski); FEM and hybrid methods (S. Yan and D. Jiao); modeling the physics and applications of materials and composites (M. Celuch); quantum electromagnetics, methods, and technologies (T. Roth and V. Okhmatovski); numerical methods for periodic structures, metasurfaces, and metamaterials (P. Mojabi); industry applications of fast algorithms (S. Velamparambil and J. Aronsson); machine learning and AI methods (F. Feng, Q.-J. Zhang, and J. Zhang); and advanced methods for device modeling, packaging, and interconnects (J. Aronsson, K. Aygün, and W. Thiel).
(From left): Dr. Martijn Huynen (Ghent University, Belgium), Omid Babazadeh (University of Manitoba, Canada), Kristin Okhmatovski, Prof. Vladimir Okhmatovski (University of Manitoba, Canada), Dr. Emrah Sever (Aselsan Inc, Turkey), Gamze Sever, Prof. Costas Sarris (University of Toronto, Canada), Prof. Eduard Ubeda (Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain), Lidia Ubeda.
NEMO 2023 Conference Banquet in the Grand Ballroom of the Fort Garry Hotel.
(From left): Dr. Jonatan Aronsson, Prof. Oscar Bruno, Dr James Rautio, Prof. Vladimir Okhmatovski, Prof. Costas Sarris, and Dr. C.J. Reddy.
MTT-S President Prof. Nuno Carvalho (far left) and MTT-S NEMO ExCom Chair Prof. Qijun Zhang (far right) award the MTT-S Certificate of Appreciation to 2023 MTT-S NEMO General Chair Prof. Vladimir Okhmatovski (center).
Hosting cities for prior MTT-S NEMO conferences include Limoges (France) in 2022, Hangzhou (China) in 2020, Boston (USA) in 2019, Reykjavik (Iceland) in 2018, and Seville (Spain) in 2017. The 2023 edition of the conference was held from 28 to 30 June at the historic Fort Garry Hotel in the heart of Winnipeg (Canada). Being ranked one of the top 100 places to visit by Time, the city of Winnipeg provided a friendly and luxurious experience for the delegates attending NEMO 2023 in person.
The 2023 edition of NEMO was sponsored by the Price Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba and industry partners Xpeedic, Ansys, CEMWorks, and Sonnet Software. The generous support from the academic and industry sponsors ensured the success of the conference.
The conference would not have been a success without the highly dedicated organizing committee led by general cochair Dr. Jonatan Aronsson; finance chair Prof. Ian Jeffrey; local arrangements chair Prof. Colin Gilmore; exhibition cochairs Dr. Rajen Murugan (Texas Instruments) and Dr. Feng Ling (Xpeedic); student paper competition chair Dr. Martijn Huynen; publications chair Dr. Yang Liu; publicity chair Prof. Abdulkadir C. Yucel; webmaster Jamiu Mojolagbe; and student volunteers Keeley Edwards, Omid Babazadeh, Ben Martin, Lucas Banting, Alireza Niazi, and Mahsa Shab. The management of the conference logistics at MTT-S was provided by the NEMO Executive Committee members Prof. Qi-Jun Zhang and Dr. James Rautio and MTT-S President Prof. Nuno Borges Carvalho.
The conference was attended in person by 55 students and professionals, while 60 attendees participated online. The technical program featured 83 contributions from 22 countries worldwide, with 14 excellent entries from the brilliant students entered in the Student Paper Competition (SPC). The SPC jury was chaired by Dr. Martijn Huynen (Ghent University) and consisted of Dr. Emrah Sever, Dr. Sanjay Velamparambil (Ansys), and Prof. Su Yan (Howard University). With each SPC contribution being a testament to the exceptional intellectual curiosity and innovative thinking, after exhaustive review and meticulous deliberations the jury determined the winner of the SPC to be the paper “Solving the Fully Coupled Time-Dependent Maxwell-Dirac System: A Second-Order Accurate Numerical Scheme,” presented by Jul Van den Broeck and coauthored by Emile Vanderstraeten, Pieter Decleer, and Dries Vande Ginste from Ghent University (Belgium). Second place was won by the student paper titled “A Hybrid Classical-Quantum Computing Framework for RIS-Assisted Wireless Network,” presented by Charles Ross (University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, USA) and coauthored by Gabriele Gradoni (University of Surrey, United Kingdom) and Zhen Peng (University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, USA).
The next MTT-S NEMO is coming to Montreal (Canada) in August 2024. It will be chaired by Prof. Roni Khazaka from McGill University. We invite the MTT-S community to join the NEMO 2024 conference; celebrate the advances in numerical methods, multiphysics modeling, and optimization; sow the seeds for future innovations; and get inspired for future discoveries!
For more information, visit the MTT-S NEMO website: https://nemo-ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2023.3321550