Short Biography


Professor Karu Esselle, IEEE ‘M (1992), SM (1996), F (2016), received BSc degree in electronic and telecommunication engineering with First Class Honours from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and MASc and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Ottawa, Canada. He is a Professor of Electronic Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, Director of WiMed Research Centre and the Past Associate Dean – Higher Degree Research (HDR) of the Division of Information and Communication Sciences. He has also served as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council and the Division Executive and as the Head of the Department several times. In 2018, he has been selected to chair the prestigious Distinguished Lecturer Program Committee of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation (AP) Society – the premier global learned society dedicated for antennas and propagation - which has over 8,000 members worldwide. In 2019 he was re-selected for the same position. After two stages in the selection process, Karu was also selected by this Society as one of two candidates in the ballot for 2019 President of the Society. Only three people from Asia or Pacific apparently have received this honour (one from Australia and two from Japan) in the 68-year history of this Society. Karu is also one of the three Distinguished Lecturers (DL) selected by the Society in 2016. He is the only Australian to chair the AP DL Program ever, the only Australian AP DL in almost two decades, and second Australian AP DL ever. He has been continuously serving the IEEE AP Society Administrative Committee in various elected or ex-officio capacities since 2015. Karu is also the chair of the Board of management of Australian Antenna Measurement Facility, and was the elected Chair of both IEEE New South Wales (NSW), and IEEE NSW AP/MTT Chapter, in 2016 and 2017. He directs the Centre for Collaboration in Electromagnetic and Antenna Engineering. Karu was elevated to prestigious IEEE Fellow grade for his contributions to resonance-based antennas. He is also a Fellow of Engineers Australia.

Karu has authored approximately 600 research publications and his papers have been cited more than 7,500 times. He is the first Australian antenna researcher ever to reach Google Scholar h-index of 30 and his i10 index (151 in 2019 March) and h-index (40 in March 2019) is often in the top two among Australian antenna researchers. Since 2002, his research team has been involved with research grants, contracts and PhD scholarships worth over 18 million dollars, including 15 Australian Research Council grants. His research has been supported by many national and international organisations including Australian Research Council, Intel, US Air Force, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Australian Department of Defence, Australian Department of industry, and German and Indian governments.

Karu has been invited to serve as an international expert/ research grant assessor by several nationwide research funding bodies overseas including European Science Foundation, the Netherlands, Canada, Finland, Hong-Kong, Georgia, South Africa and Chile. He has been invited by Vice-Chancellors of Australian and overseas universities to assess applications for promotion to professorial levels. He has also been invited to assess grant applications submitted to Australia’s most prestigious schemes such as Australian Federation Fellowships and Australian Laureate Fellowships. He led the Implantable Wireless Program of the WiMed Research Centre. In addition to the large number of invited conference speeches he has given, he has been an invited keynote speaker of IEEE workshops and conferences.

Karu’s awards include 2017 Excellence in Research Award from the Faculty of Science and Engineering, 2017 Engineering Excellence Award for Best Innovation, 2017 Certificate of Recognition from IEEE Region 10, 2016 and 2012 Engineering Excellence Awards for Best Published Paper from IESL NSW Chapter, 2011 Outstanding Branch Counsellor Award from IEEE headquarters (USA), 2009 Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research Supervision and 2004 Innovation Award for best invention disclosure. His mentees have been awarded many fellowships, awards and prizes for their research achievements. Forty-eight international experts who examined the theses of his recent PhD graduates ranked them in the top 5% or 10%.

Karu has provided expert assistance to more than a dozen companies including Intel, Hewlett Packard Laboratory (USA), Cisco Systems (USA), Audacy (USA), Cochlear, Optus, ResMed and Katherine-Werke (Germany). He is an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Antennas Propagation as well as IEEE Access.

Karu Esselle is the Technical Program Committee Co-Chair of ISAP 2015, APMC 2011 and TENCON 2013 and the Publicity Chair of ICEAA 2016, IWAT 2014 and APMC 2000. Karu’s research activities are posted in the web at http://web.science.mq.edu.au/~esselle/. Wikipedia, Google Scholar, Research Gate , Linkedin.
Karu's research outputs are listed here

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Education
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Employment
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Selected Awards & Honors
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Industrial Affiliations
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Research Support Organizations
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Selected Collaborations
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Grants

2022-2019, ARC Discovery Project grant, Thin Antenna Beam Steering Systems with Exceptional Performance, $570,000

2019-2020, Australia-India Strategic Research Fund: Planar high-gain antennas based on electromagnetic band gap, Esselle, Biswas, $394,000

2019-2015, ARC Discovery Project grant, Wideband Strongly-Truncated Composite Cavity-Resonator Antennas, Esselle, Bird, Matekovits, Hay, Kildal, $485,100

2019-2018, Australian Department of Defence, Defence Science & Technology Group and Macquarie University, multiple grants, ~ $200,000

2019-2018, Research collaboration with Stuttgart University, Australia-Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme, Universities Australia and Government of Germany

2018: Macquarie University WiMed Research Centre, $50,000

2017-2013, ARC Discovery grant, Dual-band antennas with digitally steerable beams based on multi-state electromagnetic elements, Esselle, Heimlich, Bird, Matekovits, Hay, $400,000

2017: Macquarie University Strategic Research Fund, $150,000 (Infrastructure Development)

2017: Macquarie University Research Development Block Grant, $70,000 (Infrastructure Development)

2017: Macquarie University Research Development Block Grant, $95,000 (Infrastructure Development)

2017: Macquarie University WiMed Research Centre, $50,000

2016: ARC LIEF with RMIT, $400,000 (Infrastructure Development)

2016: Macquarie University WiMed Research Centre, $50,000

2016-2014, Australia-India Strategic Research Fund: Planar high-gain antennas based on electromagnetic band gap, Esselle, Biswas, $394,000

  2. 2016-2014, ARC Linkage: Technology optimisation of integrated circuits with applications to wireless communication systems in medicine, Heimlich, Avolio Weste, Parker, Esselle, Harvey, Mahon, Fattorini, Seed, $240,000

  4. 2016-2014, Intel Labs University Research Office Grant: Dynamic Cloud Services Spectrum Sharing Algorithms and Mechanisms for B4G Networks, Dutkiewicz, Heimlich, Hanly, Esselle, $450,000

  6. 2015-2013, ARC Discovery grant, Dual-band antennas with digitally steerable beams based on multi-state electromagnetic elements, Esselle, Heimlich, Bird, Matekovits, Hay, $400,000
2013: Macquarie University Research Development Block Grant, $105,000 (Infrastructure Development)

2012: Macquarie University Strategic Research Fund, $239,000 (Infrastructure Development)

  1. 2012, US Air Force Research Laboratory grant, Basic research: 2D Electrically Tuneable EBG Integrated Circuits, Heimlich, Esselle, Matekovits, $100,000

  3. 2012-2009, European commission, Framework 7 Marie Curie Fellowship, Analysis of Low-cost Original Holographic Antenna, Matekovits, Nominated host and collaborator: Esselle, approx. $500,000

  5. 2011-2009, ARC Discovery grant, High-Performance Microwave and Millimetre Wave Antennas based on multi-layer periodic structures, Esselle & Bird, $180,000

  7. 2011, US Air Force Research Laboratory grant, Basic research: Dynamically Tuneable EBG Structure Demonstrator, Heimlich, Esselle, Matekovits, $100,000

  9. 2011, MQSIS Infrastructure grant, Enabling Advanced Wireless Research, Parker, Esselle, et al., $42,000

  11. 2011, Enterprise Partnership grant, MBAN for Medical Implantable Devices, Dutkiewicz, Esselle et al. $20,000

  13. 2010, MQSIS Infrastructure grant, Millimetre-Wave (67 GHz) Spectrum Analyser, Heimlich, Esselle, et al., $100,000

  15. 2010, US Air Force Research Laboratory grant, Basic research: Electrically tunable EBG structure demonstrator for IC-, thick-, or thin-film processing, Heimlich, Esselle, Matekovits, $30,000

  17. 2009-2007, ARC Discovery grant, A three-dimensional ultra-wideband microwave method based on multiple antennas for early detection of breast cancer, Sangavarapu, Esselle, Bird, $382,000

  19. 2009, ARC LIEF grant, A high performance computing cluster and storage for the INTERSECT, Lindsay et al. including Esselle, $500,000

  21. 2008-2006, Research Innovation Fund grant, Multi-antenna technology capitalising on interactions between baseband processing and  digital and analog circuitry in wireless communication systems, Davis, Quinn, Parker, Esselle, $221,500

  23. 2008 MQSIS Infrastructure grant, Electronic hardware accelerator for electromagnetic analysis and design of wireless communication devices and components, Esselle et al., $60,000

  25. 2007-2005, ARC Discovery grant, Broadband and Multiband Antenna Systems, Esselle & Bird, $203,000

  27. 2007, Australian Academy of Science, Advanced Engineered Electromagnetic Surfaces, Esselle, $8,400

  29. 2007, RIBG Infrastructure grant, Network/Spectrum/Impedance Analyser System, Parker, Esselle, Davis, Ge, $46,000

  31. 2006, ARC Linkage LIEF grant, Nanotechnology facility, Jagadish et al. including Esselle, $1,000,000

  33. 2006-2004, Research Innovation Fund grant, Inverse Scattering, Remote Sensing and Data Inversion, Smith, Vinogradova, Esselle & Parfitt, $248,000

  35. 2006, RIBG Infrastructure grant, Software for High-Frequency System Simulations, Esselle et al. including Ge, Weily, Nasimuddin, $57,000

  37. 2005, Macquarie University MURDG grant, High Gain Microstrip Antenna and Optically Controlled Passive Microwave Components on Si-Substrate , Esselle & Town, $10,700

  39. 2005, RIBG Infrastructure grant, High Performance Design and Development Platform, Parker, Esselle et al. including Ge, Nasimuddin, Weily, $79,600

  41. 2005-2003, ARC Linkage (CSIRO) grant, Photonic Crystal Signal Processing and Antenna Technologies, Esselle, Bird, Sanders & Weily, $192,000

  43. 2004 ARC LIEF grant, Microwave Antenna Testing Facility for Far-Field and Spherical Near-Field Measurements,  Esselle (lead CI) et al. including Weily, $392,000 (+$192,000 partner contributions)

  45. 2004 Cisco Systems (USA) University Research Program, Compact Quad-Band Antennas for Universal Wireless LAN Client Adapters and Access Points, Esselle, $110,000

  47. 2004-2002, ARC Discovery grant, Hybrid-resonator antennas for wireless communication networks, Esselle & Bird, $186,000

  49. 2004-2002, ARC Discovery grant, Microwave Antennas and Waveguides in Photonic Crystals, Sanders & Esselle, $172,000
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       aWARD
Karu receiving the 2017 Engineering Excellence Award for Best Innovation from Dr Marlene Kanga AM - President-Elect of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations and Past National President of Engineers Australia - at the IESL Engineers Gala in June 2017
           Karu with IEEE President Karen Bartleson and President Candidate Jacek Zurada at 2017 ANZSCON
Karu with IEEE President Karen Bartleson and President Candidate Jacek Zurada at 2017 ANZSCON
              IEEE MTT Society Plaque
               IEEE MTT Society Plaque
              Karu receiving Fellow of IEEE MTT Society Plaque from IEEE MTT Society President Professor Ke Wu at the International Microwave Symposium in San Francisco, USA
Professor Karu Esselle receiving Fellow IEEE MTT Society Plaque
from IEEE MTT Society Presidnet Professor Ke Wu at the
International Microwave Symposium in San Francisco, USA
Karu at the top of Hobart, Tasmania, with Distinguished Professor and Northrop Grumman Chair in Electrical Engineering Yahya Rahmat-Samii of University of California, Los Angeles, USA, who delivered one of the two keynote speeches at the 2015 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation.
Karu at the top of Hobart, Tasmania, with Distinguished Prof.
and Northrop Grumman Chair in Elec. Engg. Yahya Rahmat-Samii
of University of California, Los Angeles, USA, who delivered
one of the two keynote speeches at ISAP 2015
Karu with Prof Trevor Bird in Tasmania, 2015
Karu with Prof Trevor Bird in Tasmania, 2015
ASA, Sydney, 2013
Australian Symposium on Antennas, Sydney, 2013
                   Receiving Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in HDR Supervision
Karu receiving VC's Award for Excellence in HDR Supervision