Tapan Kumar Sarkar (August 2, 1948 – March 12, 2021) was an Indian-American electrical engineer and Professor Emeritus at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University. He was best known for his contributions to computational electromagnetics and antenna theory.

Tapan Kumar Sarkar
Born(1948-08-02)August 2, 1948
DiedMarch 12, 2021(2021-03-12) (aged 72)
NationalityIndian
Alma mater
Known forGeneralized pencil-of-function method
AwardsIEEE Electromagnetics Award (2020)
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
ThesisAnalysis of arbitrarily oriented thin wire antenna arrays over imperfect ground planes (1975)
Doctoral advisorBradley J. Strait
Websiteecs.syr.edu/faculty/sarkar/index.html

Sarkar was the recipient of IEEE Electromagnetics Award in 2020.

Biography

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Sarkar was born on August 2, 1948, in Kolkata, India. He obtained his Bachelor of Technology from IIT Kharagpur and Master of Engineering from University of New Brunswick in 1969 and 1971, respectively. He received his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Syracuse University in 1975.[1]

Between 1975 and 1976, Sarkar worked for TACO Division of General Instrument. Between 1976 and 1985, he was a faculty member at Rochester Institute of Technology; he also briefly held a research fellowship position at Gordon McKay Laboratory for Applied Sciences in Harvard University in between 1977 and 1978.[1] In 1985, he became a professor at Syracuse University and held the position until his death[2] in 2021.[3][4]

Sarkar acted as an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility in between 1986-1989 and for IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation in between 2004 and 2010. He was the 2014 president of IEEE Antennas & Propagation Society[3] and the vice president of the Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES). Sarkar also served as board member for journals such as Digital Signal Processing, Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications and Microwave and Optical Technology Letters.[2] Sarkar was the president of OHRN Enterprises, Inc., an incorporated business specializing in computer services and system analysis.[2]

He died on March 12, 2021, in Syracuse, New York.[3][4]

Research and awards

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Sarkar's research interests focused on "numerical solutions of operator equations arising in electromagnetics and signal processing with application to system design." He is the author or co-author of more than 380 journal articles, as well as 16 books and, 32 book chapters.[2] Along with his doctoral student Yingbo Hua, he developed the generalized pencil-of-function method for signal estimation with complex exponentials. Based on Sarkar's past work on the original pencil-of-function method, the technique is used in electromagnetic analyses of layered structures, antenna analysis and radar signal processing.[5] He is also the co-author of the general purpose electromagnetic solver, HOBBIES.[6]

In 2010, Sarkar was chosen as the IEEE Distinguished Lecturer in Antennas and Propagation Systems.[7] In 2020, he received IEEE Electromagnetics Award "for contributions to the efficient and accurate solution of computational electromagnetic problems in frequency and time domain, and for research in adaptive antennas."[8] He previously was the recipient of Best Paper Awards of the IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility in 1979 and National Radar Conference in the 1997.[2]

Sarkar received honorary doctorate degrees from Blaise Pascal University, Technical University of Madrid and Aalto University, respectively in 1998, 2004 and 2012.[8]

Selected publications

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Journal articles
Books
  • Salazar-Palma, M.; Sarkar, T.K.; Garcia-Costillo, L.E.; Roy, T.; Djordevic, A. (1998). Iterative and Self-Adaptive Finite-Elements in Electromagnetic Modeling. Artech House. ISBN 978-0890068953.
  • Salazar-Palma, M.; Sarkar, T.K.; Wicks, M.C. (2002). Wavelet Application in Engineering Electromagnetics. Artech House. ISBN 9781580532679.
  • Sarkar, T.K.; Wicks, M.C.; Salazar-Palma, M.; Bonneau, R.J. (2005). Smart Antennas. Wiley-IEEE Press. ISBN 978-0-471-72123-9.
  • Sarkar, T.K.; Salazar-Palma, M.; Mokole, E.L. (2008). Physics of Multiantenna Systems and Broadband Processing. Wiley-IEEE Press. ISBN 978-0-470-28923-5.
  • Zhang, Y.; Sarkar, T.K. (2009). Parallel Solution of Integral Equation-Based EM Problems in the Frequency Domain. Wiley-IEEE Press. ISBN 9780470405451.

References

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  1. ^ a b Hua, Y.; Sarkar, T.K. (1989). "Generalized pencil-of-function method for extracting poles of an EM system from its transient response". IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. 37 (2): 229–234. Bibcode:1989ITAP...37..229H. doi:10.1109/8.18710. S2CID 122969497.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Dr. Tapan K. Sarkar". ecs.syr.edu. Archived from the original on November 25, 2018. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Lyons, Gregory (March 13, 2021). "In Memoriam: Prof. Tapan Sarkar". mtt.org. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Perrins, Richard (April 6, 2021). "SU professor Tapan Sarkar remembered for academic excellence, generosity". The Daily Orange. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  5. ^ Sarkar, T. K.; Pereira, O. (February 1995). "Using the matrix pencil method to estimate the parameters of a sum of complex exponentials". IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine. 37 (1): 48–55. Bibcode:1995IAPM...37...48S. doi:10.1109/74.370583.
  6. ^ Zhang, Y.; Sarkar, T.K. (2009). Parallel Solution of Integral Equation-Based EM Problems in the Frequency Domain. Wiley-IEEE Press. ISBN 9780470405451.
  7. ^ "Tapan Sarkar Chosen as IEEE Distinguished Lecturer". Syracuse Engineer. Syracuse, New York: L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science. Summer 2011. p. 25. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  8. ^ a b "2020 IEEE Electromagnetics Award". IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. 68 (12): 7740. December 2020. Bibcode:2020ITAP...68.7740.. doi:10.1109/TAP.2020.3039030.
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