Rhonda Franklin

Rhonda Franklin (born 1965) is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Minnesota. She is a microwave and radio frequency engineer whose research focuses on microelectronic mechanical structures in radio and microwave applications. She has won several awards, including the 1998 NSF Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the 2013 Sara Evans Leadership Award, the 2017 John Tate Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising, and the 2018 Minnesota African American Heritage Calendar Award for her contributions to higher education.

Education Franklin was born in Rayne, Louisiana and grew up in Shreveport and Houston, Texas. During high school, she received mixed advice on the career she should pursue. While her senior counselor thought she should become a secretary, her science teachers encouraged her to explore STEM fields by attending a summer camp run by the National Science Foundation. She joined University of Michigan for her graduate studies, earning a Master's in 1990 and her PhD in 1995. Her supervisor was Linda Katehi.

Research and career Franklin researches radio-frequency microwave circuits. She was an instructor at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1996, and joined the University of Minnesota's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty in 1998.

Her research areas include:

Biomedical and Biological Computational Methods Devices, and System Fields, Photonics, Magnetic Recording Technology Micro and Nanostructures

Her recent research combines high-speed antennas and circuits for biomedical applications, such as cancer diagnostics.

Franklin was the first woman to earn tenure in her department as an assistant professor, and also is the first African-American woman to do so in both her department and the entire college. In 2012 she was named a CIC Academic Leadership Fellow. In 2013 she was promoted to Professor. She won the 2014 Sara Evans Award for her research success in wireless communications. and was the recipient of the 2019 N. Walter Cox Award of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society for exemplary service "in a spirit of selfless dedication and cooperation."

Franklin instituted the Microwave Packaging and Technology (MPACT) research group at the University of Minnesota.

In 2020, Franklin along with Chris Purnell received the inaugural IEM Abbott Professorships in Innovative Education. The Professorships were awarded to the co-directors of The Institute for Engineering in Medicine (IEM) at the University of Minnesota. The award is intended to help advance IEM's mission to inspire students in eighth grade through junior college to see themselves in STEM careers in biomedicine and healthcare delivery.

In 2023, she returned to the University of Michigan to receive the CE Distinguished Alumni Educator Award. This was in recognition of her contributions to engineering education.

Public engagement and diversity work Franklin co-founded the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Microwave Theory and Techniques Society's (IEEE MTT-S) International Microwave Symposium (IMS) Project Connect, which connects underrepresented undergraduate college students to opportunities in microwave engineering, a field in STEM. She works with her co-founders, Tom Weller (now at Oregon State University) and Rashaunda Henderson (UT Dallas), and other committed industry and government colleagues who volunteer from the MTT-S society to create and host this immersive program to broaden participation of women and minorities annually within the IMS conference of the IEEE MTT-S professional society since 2014. Project Connect selects students based on academic credentials and offers both professional development opportunities and technical training. Through the University of Michigan "Next Prof" program, Franklin has been a mentor to several early career scientists.