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Photo of Jamesina Simpson

Jamesina J. Simpson

Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Email: jamesina.simpson@utah.edu
Office: MEB 2278  ·  Phone: 801.585.6929
Mail: 50 S. Central Campus Dr., Rm 2110, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA (mailing room differs from office)

Biographical Sketch

Prof. Simpson obtained the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, in 2003 and 2007, respectively. From August 2007 to June 2012, she was a tenure-track assistant professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at the University of New Mexico (UNM). In July 2012, she joined the ECE Department at the University of Utah as an associate professor and was promoted to professor in July 2022.

Prof. Simpson's research lab encompasses the application of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method to modeling electromagnetic phenomena at frequencies over 15 orders of magnitude (~1 Hz to ~600 THz). In particular, her group has developed advanced three-dimensional (3-D) Maxwell's equations FDTD models of global electromagnetic wave propagation within the Earth-ionosphere waveguide. These models have been applied to a variety of applications, including remote-sensing of oil fields, scintillation, hypothesized electromagnetic earthquake precursors, remote-sensing of localized ionospheric anomalies, remote-sensing of airplanes that have crashed into the oceans, Schumann resonances, and space weather effects on the operation of electric power grids. Prof. Simpson's research activities have been funded by NASA, the Office of Naval Research, Sandia National Labs, Los Alamos National Labs, Intel Corporation, the Department of Energy, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Air Force, and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Dr. Simpson has received research and teaching awards, including a 2010 NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, the 2012 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) Donald G. Dudley, Jr. Undergraduate Teaching Award, the 2017 Santimay Basu Medal from the Union of Radio Science International (URSI), and the 2020 IEEE AP-S Lot Shafai Mid-Career Distinguished Achievement Award.

Current and former students in Prof. Simpson's research lab have earned awards such as the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, the IEEE AP-S Pre-Doctoral and Doctoral Research Awards, and the American Association of University Women Fellowship. Graduates from her lab have accepted positions in industry, in academia, and with the government, including Intel Corporation, Apple Inc., Air Force Research Labs, the COMSOL Group, Singapore's Institute of High-Performance Computing, Northwestern University, University of Florida, and the National Nuclear Security Administration's Future Leaders Program.

Below is a short presentation and a movie of global propagation of an electromagnetic pulse centered at 300 Hz under these ionospheric conditions, as calculated by Prof. Simpson's 3-D FDTD model.

Open the presentation (PDF)

Video courtesy of K. Niknam.

Selected Research Interests

Publications

Journal Publications

  1. P. S. Paneru, D. Cordell, J. J. Simpson, and M. B. Moldwin, “Comparison of geoelectric fields computed by the complex image, magnetotelluric, and finite-difference time-domain methods,” Space Weather, vol. 24, no. 3, e2025SW004771, 2026.
  2. A. P. Pedgaonkar, J. J. Simpson, and G. Moss, “A stochastic scattered-field FDTD formulation using a highly efficient FDTD discrete plane wave source for weak scattering environments,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 2572–2576, 2025.
  3. A. P. Pedgaonkar, J. J. Simpson, and E. A. Jensen, “A 3-D FDTD methodology for modeling the propagation of VLF whistler mode PLHR waves through the ionosphere,” Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, vol. 130, no. 2, e2024JA033273, 2024.
  4. P. S. Paneru, J. J. Simpson, and M. B. Moldwin, “Spatial resolution requirements for FDTD modeling of geoelectric fields,” Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, vol. 129, no. 6, e2023JA032125, 2024.
  5. Y. Zhang, D. R. Smith, and J. J. Simpson, “A 3-D global FDTD Courant-limit model of the Earth for long-time-span and high-altitude applications,” Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society Journal, vol. 39, no. 2, 2024.
  6. Y. Zhang and J. J. Simpson, “Extrapolation within the time-stepping loop of FDTD models,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 3553–3557, 2024.
  7. E. A. Jensen, Y. Rahmani, and J. J. Simpson, “The hunt for perpendicular magnetic field measurements in plasma,” The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 963, no. 1, 2024.
  8. F. L. Teixeira, C. Sarris, Y. Zhang, D.-Y. Na, J.-P. Berenger, Y. Su, M. Okoniewski, W. C. Chew, V. Backman, and J. J. Simpson, “Finite-difference time-domain methods,” Nature Reviews Methods Primers, 3:75, 2023.
  9. K. Niknam and J. J. Simpson, “A TF/SF plane wave source condition for the constraint preserving FVTD method,” IEEE Journal on Multiscale and Multiphysics Computational Techniques, vol. 8, pp. 108–122, 2023.
  10. D. Smith, C. Jin, J. J. Simpson, and E. Decrossas, “FDTD modeling of internal electrostatic discharge events coupled to high frequency antennas,” IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility, vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 39–46, 2022.
  11. K. Niknam and J. J. Simpson, “A review of grid-based, time-domain modeling of electromagnetic wave propagation in the ionosphere,” IEEE Journal on Multiscale and Multiphysics Computational Techniques, vol. 6, pp. 214–228, 2021.
  12. D. S. Balsara, S. Samantaray, K. Niknam, J. J. Simpson, and G. Montecinos, “An optimized CPML formulation for high order FVTD schemes for CED,” IEEE Journal on Multiscale and Multiphysics Computational Techniques, vol. 6, pp. 183–200, 2021.
  13. S. Burns, F. Gasdia, J. J. Simpson, and R. A. Marshall, “3-D FDTD modeling of long-distance VLF propagation in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 69, no. 11, pp. 7743–7752, 2021.
  14. D. R. Smith and J. J. Simpson, “On the possibility of using ULF/ELF electromagnetic waves from undersea cables to detect airplanes submerged in the ocean,” Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society Journal, vol. 36, no. 5, pp. 486–495, 2021.
  15. D. R. Smith, T. Tan, E. Dao, C. Huang, and J. J. Simpson, “An FDTD investigation of orthogonality and the backscattering of HF waves in the presence of ionospheric irregularities,” Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, vol. 125, e2020JA028201, 2020.
  16. D. Balsara and J. J. Simpson, “Making a synthesis of FDTD and DGTD schemes for computational electromagnetics,” IEEE Journal on Multiscale and Multiphysics Computational Techniques, vol. 5, pp. 99–118, 2020.
  17. X. Xu, L. Chen, C. Zhou, X. Liu, Z. Xia, J. J. Simpson, and Y. Zhang, “Two dimensional full-wave simulation of whistler-mode wave propagation near the local lower hybrid resonance frequency in a dipole field,” Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, vol. 125, no. 4, e2019JA027750, 2020.
  18. D. R. Smith, C. Y. Huang, J. J. Simpson, and E. Dao, “FDTD modeling of HF waves through ionospheric plasma irregularities,” Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, vol. 125, no. 3, e2019JA027499, 2020.
  19. X. Xu, C. Zhou, L. Chen, Z. Xia, X. Liu, J. J. Simpson, and Y. Zhang, “Two dimensional full-wave modeling of propagation of low-altitude hiss in the ionosphere,” Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 47, no. 4, e2019GL086601, 2020.
  20. S. Pokhrel, G. Moss, and J. J. Simpson, “FDTD modeling of coils for wireless charging applications,” Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society Journal, vol. 34, no. 11, pp. 1620–1628, 2019.
  21. D. R. Smith, S. Burns, J. J. Simpson, and S. Ferrone, “FDTD modeling of scattered ultra low-frequency electromagnetic waves from objects submerged in the ocean,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 2534–2541, 2019.
  22. B. T. Nguyen, A. Samimi, S. Wiechecki Vergara, C. D. Sarris, and J. J. Simpson, “Analysis of electromagnetic wave propagation in variable magnetized plasma via polynomial chaos expansion,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 67, no. 1, pp. 438–449, 2019.
  23. B. T. Nguyen, S. Wiechecki Vergara, C. D. Sarris, and J. J. Simpson, “Ionospheric variability effects on impulsive ELF antipodal propagation about the Earth-sphere,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 66, no. 11, pp. 6244–6254, 2018.
  24. S. Pokhrel, V. Shankar, and J. J. Simpson, “3-D FDTD modeling of electromagnetic wave propagation in magnetized plasma requiring singular updates to the current density equation,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 66, no. 9, pp. 4772–4781, 2018.
  25. S. Pokhrel, M. Rodriguez, A. Samimi, G. Heber, and J. J. Simpson, “Parallel I/O for 3-D global FDTD Earth-ionosphere waveguide models at resolutions on the order of ~1 km and higher using HDF5,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 66, no. 7, pp. 3548–3555, 2018.
  26. S. Pokhrel, B. Nguyen, M. Rodriguez, E. Bernabeu, and J. J. Simpson, “A finite difference time domain investigation of electric field enhancements along ocean-continent boundaries during space weather events,” Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, vol. 123, no. 6, 2018.
  27. A. Pulkkinen, E. Bernabeu, A. Thomson, A. Viljanen, R. Pirjola, D. Boteler, J. Eichner, P. J. Cilliers, D. Welling, N. P. Savani, R. S. Weigel, J. J. Love, C. Balch, C. M. Ngwira, G. Crowley, A. Schultz, R. Kataoka, B. Anderson, J. J. Simpson, and M. MacAlester, “Geomagnetically induced currents: Science, engineering, and applications readiness,” Space Weather, 2017.
  28. A. Samimi and J. J. Simpson, “Parallelization of 3-D FDTD Earth-ionosphere waveguide models at resolutions on the order of ~1 km and higher,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 15, pp. 1959–1962, 2016.
  29. B. T. Nguyen, C. Furse, and J. J. Simpson, “A 3-D stochastic FDTD model of electromagnetic wave propagation in magnetized ionospheric plasma,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 304–313, 2015.
  30. A. Samimi and J. J. Simpson, “An efficient 3-D FDTD model of electromagnetic wave propagation in magnetized plasma,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 269–279, 2015.
  31. B. T. Nguyen, A. Samimi, and J. J. Simpson, “Recent advances in FDTD modeling of electromagnetic wave propagation in the ionosphere,” Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society Journal, vol. 29, no. 12, pp. 1003–1012, 2014 (invited).
  32. M. Hasan and J. J. Simpson, “Three-dimensional subwavelength confinement of a photonic nanojet using a plasmonic nanoantenna gap,” Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, vol. 56, no. 11, pp. 2700–2706, 2014.
  33. M. Hasan and J. J. Simpson, “Photonic nanojet enhanced nanometer-scale germanium photodiode,” Applied Optics, vol. 52, no. 22, pp. 5420–5425, Aug. 2013.
  34. Y. Yu, J. Niu, and J. J. Simpson, “A 3-D global Earth-ionosphere FDTD model including an anisotropic magnetized plasma ionosphere,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 60, no. 7, pp. 3246–3256, 2012.
  35. J. Niu and J. J. Simpson, “On the air-sea boundary in marine CSEM detection modeling of sub-seafloor hydrocarbon reservoirs,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 11, pp. 651–654, 2012.
  36. C. Mendez-Ruiz and J. J. Simpson, “Cepstral analysis of photonic nanojet-illuminated biological cells,” Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society Journal, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 215–222, 2012.
  37. J. J. Simpson, “On the possibility of high-level transient coronal mass ejection-induced ionospheric current coupling to electric power grids,” Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, vol. 116, A11308, 2011.
  38. C. Mendez-Ruiz and J. J. Simpson, “Ultra high-resolution FDTD modeling of a high-performance VLSI package for identifying resonances and couplings,” Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society Journal, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 284–294, 2011.
  39. Y. Yu and J. J. Simpson, “A magnetic field-independent absorbing boundary condition for magnetized cold plasma,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 10, pp. 294–297, 2011.
  40. M. Madrid, J. J. Simpson, and M. Hayat, “FDTD calculations of the diffraction coefficient of vibrating wedges,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 10, pp. 163–166, 2011.
  41. C. Mendez-Ruiz and J. J. Simpson, “Detection of embedded ultra-subwavelength-thin dielectric features using elongated photonic nanojets,” Optics Express, vol. 18, no. 16, pp. 16805–16812, 2010. [Also published in the Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics, vol. 5, no. 16, 2010.]
  42. Y. Yu and J. J. Simpson, “An E-J collocated 3-D FDTD model of electromagnetic wave propagation in magnetized cold plasma,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 469–478, 2010.
  43. J. J. Simpson, “Current and future applications of 3-D global Earth-ionosphere models based on the full-vector Maxwell's equations FDTD method,” Surveys in Geophysics, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 105–130, 2009 (invited).
  44. J. J. Simpson, “Global FDTD Maxwell's equations modeling of electromagnetic propagation from currents in the lithosphere,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 199–203, 2008.
  45. S.-C. Kong, J. J. Simpson, and V. Backman, “ADE-FDTD scattered field formulation for dispersive materials,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 4–6, 2008.
  46. A. Heifetz, J. J. Simpson, S.-C. Kong, A. Taflove, and V. Backman, “Subdiffraction optical resolution of a gold nanosphere located within the nanojet of a Mie-resonant dielectric microsphere,” Optics Express, vol. 15, no. 25, pp. 17334–17342, 2007. [Also published in the Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics, vol. 3, no. 1, 2008.]
  47. J. J. Simpson and A. Taflove, “A review of progress in FDTD Maxwell's equations modeling of impulsive sub-ionospheric propagation below 300 kHz,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Special Issue on Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in Complex Environments: A Tribute to Leopold Benno Felsen, vol. 55, no. 6, pp. 1582–1590, June 2007.
  48. J. J. Simpson and A. Taflove, “ELF radar system proposed for localized D-region ionospheric anomalies,” IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 500–503, Oct. 2006.
  49. J. J. Simpson, R. P. Heikes, and A. Taflove, “FDTD modeling of a novel ELF radar for major oil deposits using a three-dimensional geodesic grid of the Earth-ionosphere waveguide,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 54, no. 6, pp. 1734–1741, June 2006.
  50. J. J. Simpson, A. Taflove, J. A. Mix, and H. Heck, “Substrate integrated waveguides optimized for ultrahigh-speed digital interconnects,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 54, no. 5, pp. 1983–1990, May 2006.
  51. J. J. Simpson and A. Taflove, “A novel ELF radar for major oil deposits,” IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 36–39, 2006.
  52. J. J. Simpson and A. Taflove, “Electrokinetic effect of the Loma Prieta earthquake calculated by an entire-Earth FDTD solution of Maxwell's equations,” Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 32, L09302, 2005.
  53. J. J. Simpson and A. Taflove, “Efficient modeling of impulsive ELF antipodal propagation about the Earth sphere using an optimized two-dimensional geodesic FDTD grid,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 3, no. 11, pp. 215–218, 2004.
  54. J. J. Simpson, A. Taflove, J. A. Mix, and H. Heck, “Computational and experimental study of a microwave electromagnetic bandgap structure with waveguiding defect for potential use as a bandpass wireless interconnect,” IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 14, no. 7, pp. 343–345, July 2004.
  55. J. J. Simpson and A. Taflove, “Three-dimensional FDTD modeling of impulsive ELF antipodal propagation and Schumann resonance of the Earth-sphere,” IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 443–451, Feb. 2004.
  56. J. J. Simpson and A. Taflove, “Two-dimensional FDTD model of antipodal ELF propagation and Schumann resonance of the Earth,” IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 53–56, 2002.

Book Chapters

  1. A. Samimi, B. T. Nguyen, and J. J. Simpson, “Recent FDTD advances for electromagnetic wave propagation in the ionosphere,” Chapter 4 in Computational Electromagnetic Methods and Applications, W. Yu, Ed. Norwood, MA: Artech, 2015.
  2. I. R. Capoglu, J. Rogers, C. Mendez-Ruiz, J. J. Simpson, S. H. Tseng, K. Chen, M. Ding, A. Taflove, and V. Backman, “FDTD and PSTD applications in biophotonics,” in Advances in FDTD Computational Electrodynamics: Photonics and Nanotechnology, A. Taflove, A. Oskooi, and S. G. Johnson, Eds. Norwood, MA: Artech, 2013.
  3. A. Taflove and J. J. Simpson, “Introduction to Maxwell's equations and the Yee algorithm,” Chapter 3 in Computational Electrodynamics: The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method, 3rd ed., A. Taflove and S. C. Hagness. Norwood, MA: Artech, 2005.
  4. M. Piket-May, W. K. Gwarek, T.-L. Wu, B. Houshmand, T. Itoh, and J. J. Simpson, “High-speed electronic circuits with active and nonlinear components,” Chapter 15 in Computational Electrodynamics: The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method, 3rd ed., A. Taflove and S. C. Hagness. Norwood, MA: Artech, 2005.

Newspaper & Magazine Articles

  1. J. J. Simpson, “The impact of hard work and ‘scratching’ for ideas,” IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Oct. 2021.
  2. J. J. Simpson, “Reflections on personal development,” URSI Radio Science Bulletin, no. 364, March 2018.
  3. J. J. Simpson, “An established numerical method applied to geophysics,” Eos, newspaper of the American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, July 2012 (feature article; circulation of over 61,000).

Workshop Talks

  1. J. J. Simpson, “FDTD modeling of electromagnetic propagation in the Earth-ionosphere waveguide,” China-US Computational Electromagnetics Workshop, Harbin, China, Nov. 2013 (one of eight professors invited from the United States).
  2. J. J. Simpson, “Frontiers in full-Maxwell's equations FDTD modeling,” US-Egypt Regional Workshop on Microwave Emerging Technologies, Cairo, Egypt, Oct. 2010.
  3. J. J. Simpson, “FDTD modeling applications in ultrahigh-speed interconnects and electromagnetic compatibility of complex packages,” IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Workshop Series on Signal Integrity and High-Speed Interconnects, Guadalajara, Mexico, Feb. 2009.

Awards and Honors

For Students

Advisee Fellowships, Awards, and Honors

Courses

Selected Service

Personal

My mother started teaching me to play the violin when I was three years old. I played regularly for the next ~20 years in symphonies, quartets, and recitals. Later I started playing again as my daughters also learn to play violin and viola.

Aside from playing the violin, I love training for and running road and trail races (to help offset my time in front of computers!). A few of my PRs:

RaceTimePaceYearLocation
5 km18:305:58 /mi2010Carlsbad 5k, Carlsbad, CA
10 km39:146:19 /mi2013
Half Marathon1:27:466:42 /mi2013Top of Utah Half Marathon, Logan, UT
Marathon2:59:216:50 /mi2013St. George Marathon, St. George, UT
Pikes Peak Ascent3:43:1217:02 /mi2008Manitou Springs, CO
Pikes Peak Marathon6:20:2314:28 /mi2026Manitou Springs, CO

Enjoying the places my research takes me…

Travel photo