Kudenov receives YIP from The Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Dr. Michael Kudenov, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at North Carolina State University, has been awarded a Young Investigator Program award from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR).

Kudenov is one of 42 scientists from 32 research institutions who was selected for the Air Force’s Young Investigator Research Program (YIP). Kudenov’s award of $353,269 will support his research project “Passive Snapshot Remote Sensing of Object Velocity.”

Kudenov’s current research is focused on developing novel imaging systems, interferometers, detectors, and anisotropic materials related to polarization and spectral sensing, for wavelengths spanning ultraviolet through the thermal infrared. The project’s premise is based on observing the Doppler shift in absorption features that naturally occur in sunlight. Kudenov hopes to utilize information learned from Doppler shift to infer the velocity of distant satellites from the ground, making it possible to calculate the satellite’s orbit with fewer measurements and with greater precision.

Kudenov received a BS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2005 and a PhD in optical sciences at The University of Arizona in 2009. He joined the NC State University College of Engineering in 2012.