Steven A. Cummer

William H. Younger Distinguished Professor of Engineering

Dr. Steven Cummer received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1997 and prior to joining Duke University in 1999 he spent two years at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as an NRC postdoctoral research associate. Awards he has received include a National Science Foundation CAREER award and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2001. His current work is in a variety of theoretical and experimental electromagnetic problems related to geophysical remote sensing and engineered electromagnetic materials.

Appointments and Affiliations

  • William H. Younger Distinguished Professor of Engineering
  • Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Bass Fellow

Contact Information

Education

  • B.S.E.E. Stanford University, 1991
  • M.S.E.E. Stanford University, 1993
  • Ph.D. Stanford University, 1997

Research Interests

Theoretical and experimental electromagnetic problems related to geophysical remote sensing and engineered electromagnetic materials.

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • Stansell Family Distinguished Research Award. Pratt School of Engineering. 2018
  • Fellow. Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers. 2011
  • Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. President of the United States of America. 2001

Courses Taught

  • ECE 110L9: Fundamentals of Electrical and Computer Engineering - Lab
  • ECE 110L: Fundamentals of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • ECE 270DL: Fields and Waves: Fundamentals of Information Propagation
  • ECE 270L9: Fields and Waves: Fundamentals of Information Propagation (Lab)
  • ECE 391: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • ECE 392: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • ECE 574: Waves in Matter
  • ECE 590: Advanced Topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • ECE 891: Internship

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Cummer, Steven. “Data from: Indirectly measured ambient electric fields for lightning initiation in fast breakdown regions,” January 8, 2020. https://doi.org/10.7924/r4g44p43t.
  • Xie, Yangbo, Tsung-Han Tsai, Adam Konneker, Bogdan-Ioan Popa, David J. Brady, and Steven A. Cummer. “Single-sensor multispeaker listening with acoustic metamaterials.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112, no. 34 (August 2015): 10595–98. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1502276112.
  • Lu, G., and S. A. Cummer. “Implications of lightning emissions for terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and associated lightning discharges.” In 2014 International Conference on Lightning Protection, ICLP 2014, 1496–1502, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICLP.2014.6973365.
  • Zigoneanu, Lucian, Bogdan-Ioan Popa, and Steven A. Cummer. “Three-dimensional broadband omnidirectional acoustic ground cloak.” Nature Materials 13, no. 4 (April 2014): 352–55. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3901.
  • Cummer, Steven A. “Applied physics. Selecting the direction of sound transmission.” Science (New York, N.Y.) 343, no. 6170 (January 2014): 495–96. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1249616.