Chad Josephson, a PhD student studying electrical engineering, won second place in a student paper contest this September. The contest, part of the annual International Telemetering Conference (ITC), includes graduate students from universities all across the nation.
At the beginning of this year, BYU professor Michael Rice approached Josephson with the opportunity to enter the competition. This would entail the two working together on telemetry-based research as a basis for the paper. Professor Rice had previously mentored several undergraduate and graduate students as they competed in the ITC student paper contest, and he recognized that Josephson had a great chance to win an award.
From January to April, Josephson put forth an estimated 200 hours of work into his paper, titled “On the Design of a Square-Root Nyquist Pulse Shaping Filter for Aeronautical Telemetry.”
“We were trying to come up with a pulse shape that was bandwidth efficient,” Josephson explained. The project has applications in aeronautical telemetry, a field which focuses on receiving data from airborne systems.
The ITC will formally award Josephson his second-place prize when he presents his paper to the conference at the end of October. As part of the award, Josephson will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the Las Vegas conference, as well as a $500 cash prize.
Josephson, a native of Lehi, Utah, started studying at BYU in January of 2013. When he began work on the paper, he was in the master’s program, but he has since decided to change his plans and earn his doctorate.
“My bucket wasn’t filled yet. I felt like I had more in me to do, more stuff to learn [here].”
After graduating with his PhD, Josephson plans to enter the workforce. However, he places greater emphasis on location over the specific company.
“I just want to work for any big company in California,” he said with a grin.
When asked what advice he would share with undergraduates in his field, he emphasized the importance making time for friends, even if it means spending a little less time on schoolwork.
“People are more important than paper.”