Congratulations to Patrick McCormick, winner of the 2018 Robert T. Hill Best Dissertation Award!

I am incredibly honored to be recipient of the 2018 Robert T. Hill award for my dissertation “Design and Optimization of Physical Waveform-Diverse and Spatially-Diverse Radar Emissions.” I never could have imagined receiving this award while I was at home, pacing about, struggling to write a page, thinking it would never get finished. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears (but mostly tears) went into its writing, and I couldn’t have gotten to this point without the help from many people along the way.

First and foremost, I would like to thank my wife, Sarah, for supporting me during my time as a graduate student, especially when I was writing the core of the dissertation. It certainly isn’t usual in a relationship to find your husband in the middle of the day, in his pajama pants, stomping around because he can’t decide on the most elegant way to derive Doppler frequency. She has been with me throughout this entire process and for that I am eternally grateful. Thank you.

I would also like to thank my graduate advisor, Dr. Shannon D. Blunt, who approached me in my junior year of my undergraduate degree at the University of Kansas asking if I was considering graduate school. I was, but only marginally. I am so glad to have made the decision to join Dr. Blunt at the Radar Systems Lab (RSL) and pursue my doctorate. Dr. Blunt taught me how to think about radar and how to approach different problem spaces which laid the foundation for the rest of my career. In between my weekly meetings with Dr. Blunt, I spent my time with my RSL colleagues. I couldn’t have asked for a better environment for discussions and collaboration during my graduate tenure. There would be too many to list here, but you know who you are. Below are two pictures of my research group.

Again, I am so proud to be receiving this award, but this is just as much an award for everyone at (or has been a part of) RSL as it is for me. I sincerely thank Dr. Braham Himed and Dr. Frank Robey for taking the time out of their busy schedules to read and review my dissertation, and to the IEEE AES society and the 2018 chair of the Robert T. Hill award, Dr. Kathleen Kramer, for selecting my dissertation for the award.