Carey Rappaport
COE Distinguished Professor,
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Affiliated Faculty,
Bioengineering
Associate Director,
CenSSIS
Deputy Director & Bulk Sensors and Sensor Systems Lead,
ALERT
Contact
- rappaport@ece.neu.edu
- 316 Stearns Center
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Social Media
Office
- 617.373.2043
Research Focus
Bioelectromagnetics, microwave tissue imaging, electromagnetic breast cancer detection and treatment, cardiac ablation therapy, microwave assisted balloon angioplasty, catheter-based sensing. Antennas, electromagnetic computation, subsurface sensing and imaging, explosives detection, security system conceptualization and design.
About
Consulting:
- Geo-centers, Inc.: Mine detection, sensor design and modeling
- Tower Resources, Inc.: expert opinion on mobile phone based station transmission safety
- Cities of Reading and Milton, MA: Cellular telephone health effects analysis
- Mobile Brand Builder: Sports radar applications
- PPG, Inc.: Microwave industrial heating applications
Research:
- Antenna design
- Reflectors for scanning and high-performance systems
- bootlace scanning lenses
- Wideband antennas
- Wave propagation in complex media
- Random media and boundary effects
- Frequency-dependant materials
- Surface and volumetric clutter
- Computational modeling
- Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) modeling in realistic media
- Finite Difference Frequency Domain (FDFD) modeling with accelerated computational efficiency
- Semi-Analytic Mode Matching (SAMM) method
- Scientific visualization
- Biomedical Microwaves device design and analysis
- Cardiac ablation catheter design
- Microwave assisted ballon angioplasty
- Microwave hyperthermia for cancer treatment
- Subsurface sensing system design and integration
- Land mine detection
- Buried contaminant and pollutant sensing
- Ground penetrating radar systems
- Subsurface sensor system design
Education
- PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1987
Honors & Awards
- Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
- Søren Buus Outstanding Research Award
Professional Affiliations
- Eta Kappa Nu
- IEEE – Fellow (2006)
- Sigma Xi – Life Member
Research Overview
Bioelectromagnetics, microwave tissue imaging, electromagnetic breast cancer detection and treatment, cardiac ablation therapy, microwave assisted balloon angioplasty, catheter-based sensing. Antennas, electromagnetic computation, subsurface sensing and imaging, explosives detection, security system conceptualization and design.
Research Centers and Institutes
Deputy Director & Bulk Sensors and Sensor Systems Lead
Awareness and Localization of Explosives-Related Threats (ALERT)
Associate Director
Bernard M. Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (Gordon-CenSSIS)
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- G. Ghazi, C. Rappaport, J.A. Martinez-Lorenzo, Improved SAR Imaging Contour Extraction Using Smooth Sparsity-Driven Regularization, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 15(2), 2016, 266-269
- B. Gonzalez-Valdes, Y. Alvarez, S. Mantzavinos, C.M. Rappaport, F. Las-Heras, J.A. Martinez-Lorenzo, Improving Security Screening: A Comparison of Multistatic Radar Configurations for Human Body Imaging, IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, 58(4), 2016, 35-47
- B. Gonzalez-Valdes, Y. Alvarez, Y. Rodriguez-Vaqueiro, A. Arboleya-Arboleya, A. Garcia-Pino, C. Rappaport, F. Las-Hera, J.A. Martinez-Lorenzo, Millimeter Wave Imaging Architecture for the On-the-Move Whole Body Imaging, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 64(6), 2016, 2328-2338
- C. Rappaport, B. Gonzalez-Valdes, Multistatic Nearfield Imaging Radar for Portal Security Systems Using a High Gain Toroidal Reflector Antenna, European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), Lisbon, Portugal, 2015, *best paper award
- Y. Alvarez, Y. Rodriguez-Vaqueiro, B. Gonzalez-Valdes, C. Rappaport, F. Las-Heras, J.A. Martinez-Lorenzo, Three-Dimensional Compressed Sensing-Based Millimeter-Wave Imaging, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 63(12), 2015, 5868-5873
Mar 12, 2020
Northeastern Spearheading Advances in Travel Safety
Northeastern’s ALERT (Awareness and Localization of Explosives-Related Threats) is one of nine Department of Homeland (DHS) Security Centers of Excellence (COEs) located across the country. A multi-university center, ALERT conducts research and development for effective responses to explosives-related threats. ALERT is funded by a core grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate that equates to roughly $3.6 million a year. In addition to the Center’s ongoing core research award, DHS also provides each COE with an ability to obtain task order contracts targeted to develop specific security technologies and methods.
Sep 18, 2019
ALERT Receives Patent
ECE Professor Carey Rappaport & MIE/ECE Assistant Professor Jose Martinez-Lorenzo awarded a patent for the “Characterization of dielectric slabs attached to the body using focused millimeter waves.”
Sep 04, 2019
Emily Belk Wins DHS COE Summit Grand Challenge Competition
Computer Engineering and Computer Science BS student, Emily Belk was part of the winning team at the 2019 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Centers of Excellence (COE) Summit Grand Challenge Student Competition held on July 31st at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia.
Jul 18, 2019
Developing Better Airport Sensors
ECE Professor Carey Rappaport and MIE/ECE Associate Professor Jose Martinez-Lorenzo are developing sensors that could replace current airport scanners to quickly scan passengers as they walk down a hallway.
May 23, 2019
ALERT Awarded Patent
ECE Professor Carey Rappaport & MIE/ECE Assistant Professor Jose Martinez-Lorenzo awarded a patent for “On the move millimeter wave interrogation system with a hallway of multiple transmitters and receivers”.
Dec 19, 2018
Creating Faster, More Accurate TSA Scanners
Carey Rappaport, ECE Professor and deputy director of the Awareness and Localization of Explosives-Related Threats (ALERT) Center, is working with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to develop quicker and more accurate scanners at airport security checkpoints.
May 14, 2018
Mahdiar Sadeghi: Student Paper Finalist in IEEE Antennas & Propagation Symposium
Mahdiar Sadeghi, who recently completed a Master’s degree in ECE under the supervision of Prof. Carey Rappaport, is one of a dozen finalists in the 2018 IEEE Antennas & Propagation Symposium student Paper Competition.
Feb 10, 2018
Rappaport gives Distinguished Lecture at Princeton Plasma Physics Lab
ECE Professor Carey Rappaport gave an invited talk in Princeton, NJ at the Dept. of Energy Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory; "Advanced Millimeter-Wave Radar Concealed Threat Person Scanning System – or, How to Design an Airport Scanner that is so Accurate that We Won’t Need Humans to Look at Images."
Nov 13, 2017
Rappaport Gives IEEE Distinguished Lectures in Australia and New Zealand
ECE Prof. Carey Rappaport gave three IEEE Distinguished Lectures in: Melbourne, Australia, "Electromagnetic Sensing and Treatment of Living Things: Using Microwaves to Detect and Treat Disease in Humans and Trees," in Queenstown, New Zealand, "A High Gain Toroidal Reflector Antenna for Multistatic 3D Whole Body Millimeter-Wave Imaging," and in Sydney Australia, "Multifocal Bootlace Lens Design […]
May 24, 2017
The 'Vexing Problem' of Securing Large Public Spaces
ECE Professor and ALERT Deputy Director Carey Rappaport discusses the problems with securing large venues in the wake of the recent explosion at the Ariana Grande concert.