Jennifer Lyn Truman Bernhard (born 1966) is an American electrical engineer. She is the Department Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

. In 2010, Bernhard was elected a Fellow of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

(IEEE) for her development of multifunctional, reconfigurable, and integrated antennas.

Early life and education

Bernhard was born in 1966 and attended Poland Central School in

Poland, Herkimer County, New York Poland is a village in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 508 at the 2010 census. Poland is on the border shared by the towns of Newport and Russia. The village is north of the county seat in Herkimer and is northe ...

. After graduating in 1984, she enrolled at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

for her undergraduate degree in electrical engineering. Following this, she earned her

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

and PhD at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

Career

Upon completing her PhD, Bernhard remained at Duke for a nine-month post-doctoral position and was immediately hired as an

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

(UNH). She was the only woman among the 14 faculty members in the department. In 1998, she was honored for excellence for college teaching. Bernhard remained at UNH for three years before joining her husband at the

(U of I).

University of Illinois

Bernhard joined the faculty at U of I in 2000 and received a

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

CAREER Award for her project "Intelligent Portable Antenna Systems for High-Speed Wireless Communication." In 2003, Bernhard was promoted to the rank of

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

on indefinite tenure in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In 2010, Bernhard was elected a Fellow of the

(IEEE) for her development of multifunctional, reconfigurable, and integrated antennas. Following this, she was selected to serve as editor for Artech House's Antennas and Propagation Series. Bernhard oversaw the first demonstration of 3D printed antennas on curvilinear surfaces. Later that year, she co-developed a silver-inked rollerball pen capable of writing electrical circuits and interconnects on paper, wood, and other surfaces. In recognition of her academic achievements, Bernhard was named the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering in 2012. In 2016, Bernhard was awarded the Donald Biggar Willett Professorship of Engineering to continue her research into "applications-oriented electromagnetic problems with an emphasis on theoretical analysis and experimental investigation." She was later announced as one of the 2018-19 President's Executive Leadership Fellows and named as the interim director of the Applied Research Institute. Bernhard was appointed Department Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering on August 13, 2024.

Personal life

Bernhard and her husband Bill Bernhard have two children together.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernhard, Jennifer Living people 1966 births People from Herkimer County, New York American electrical engineers Duke University alumni Cornell University alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty University of New Hampshire faculty Fellows of the IEEE American microwave engineers