Ridgway retires as leader of ElectroScience Lab

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After four years as director of The Ohio State University’s ElectroScience Laboratory (ESL), Richard (Dick) Ridgway will retire at the end of August.

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“As director, Dick expanded the breadth of research activities at ESL, while focusing on research impact and quality,” said Andre Palmer, associate dean for research in the College of Engineering. “We thank him for his leadership and wish him the best in his retirement.”

Since beginning his tenure in September 2018, Ridgway made it a priority to expand the research areas of ESL and grow the technical staff ranks. He led ESL to an all-time high in the number of undergraduate students and full-time research scientists working in the lab. Ridgway helped ESL bring back historic research disciplines and expand current areas. In his tenure, ESL resurrected free space optics, increased focus on hardware security and combined RF systems with integrated photonics to build microwave-photonic components and quantum devices.

“I’ve really had a great time at ESL and loved working with such smart faculty and researchers,” said Ridgway. “I hoped my four years here helped people see the benefits of collaboration, both with each other and outside partners.”

When Ridgway became director, he shared his goal of increasing ESL’s collaboration with other research centers, universities and industry partners. Prior to joining ESL, he had worked at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Battelle Memorial Institute. His research career has focused on the convergence of microwave, millimeter-wave and photonic components and systems, amassing 27 U.S. patents.

Ridgway leveraged his industry knowledge and experience to help build and strengthen ESL’s partnerships. ESL formed a relationship with DARPA through Ridgway’s experience as a program manager there. Many faculty members and research scientists were able to join him in attending industry days to better understand working with DARPA. ESL also plans to continue to foster these relationships to collaborate on future projects.

“Dr. Ridgway’s leadership in building teams and connections within the laboratory and with new sponsors, such as DARPA, have provided important benefits to the laboratory’s research portfolio,” said Joel Johnson, the Burn and Sue Lin Endowed Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and ElectroScience Laboratory.

The most notable collaboration between DARPA and ESL during Ridgway’s tenure was the Waveform Agile Radio-frequency Directed Energy (WARDEN) project. The project began in 2021, leveraging the expertise of three Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellows at ESL—Professors Joel Johnson, Bob Burkholder and Fernando Teixeira.  Three graduate students are developing computational-electromagnetic models and multiple research scientist and research associates are conducting experiments to validate the electromagnetic models. The goal of the project is to develop the fully validated hybrid model framework that employs a suite of models to accurately predict the coupling of electromagnetic energy into a complex enclosure through one or more apertures.

“DARPA understood that ESL had a very strong team and deep history in computational electromagnetics,” Ridgway said. “It was very exciting to bring such a large project to ESL and involve so many of our talented faculty members and researchers. I am excited to see how the project continues to evolve in the future.”

Ridgway also led ESL through the COVID-19 pandemic. The lab leveraged the increased popularity of video conferencing software to strengthen research program development. Connections between industry and academic researchers that were usually made through travel were done remotely and more frequently. ESL was able to have more introductory meetings with DARPA program managers, which eventually led to the WARDEN project award. Although the pandemic changed how the laboratory worked, ESL was able to adapt and strengthen its research portfolio.

Ridgway will stay on at ESL in a limited research capacity while transitioning into retirement. He will support two projects for the Ohio Federal Research Network with Research Scientists Chris Ball and David Nippa. He will also continue to assist with program development with DARPA and increase collaboration with Battelle.

“It has been a privilege to work at the storied ESL. I have learned a lot and have made some good friends,” said Ridgway. “I hope I was also able make some impact on them.”

Ball, who has been a research scientist at ESL since 2016, will take over as interim director as the search for a new director is conducted.

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