In Remembrance
Barry J. Cown
(1941 – 2023)
Dr. Barry J. Cown (Senior Member of AMTA) passed away on August 27, 2023, at the age of 82 years. After high school graduation, Barry served in the Navy for 4 years and then worked at Lockheed. Barry then went on to earn his Bachelor’s in Physics, and began working at the Georgia Tech Research Institute in 1972. Barry would go on to earn his PhD in Physics in 1982 while working for for Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), where he became a Principal Research Scientist. Barry received the Outstanding Performance in Research award for GTRI in 1989 for his ground-breaking work on the Modulated Scattering Technique (MST) and rapid near-field testing. Barry also developed the Spherical Angle Function (SAF) Analysis technique, widely used by the Navy and elsewhere for predicting antenna performances in complex scattering environs, such as ship topsides, space platforms, etc. Barry went on to found GEMTECH Microwaves, under which he formed a joint venture with Satimo/MVG, promoting the use of multiprobe arrays for rapid near-field and scattering measurements. Barry was a long-time IEEE and AMTA contributor, having published nearly 50 papers dating back to 1972.
Barry was born in Rockmart, Georgia as the oldest child of Mildred and Carl Cown. He loved playing instruments, listening to music, drawing, and having lots of fun. Barry was an avid and loyal Georgia Tech fan (and a helluva engineer!). Despite his many accomplishments, Barry remained the kind, humble, gentle soul that he always was. After his retirement, Barry would later move to Nashville to promote his love of music. But he never gave up his home in Marietta and would later return to live there again.
Barry is survived by loving first wife Sarah, daughter Wendy (Ben), grandchildren Asher and Ella, siblings Ted (Karen) and Joan, niece Carla, nephew Kevin (Christine), grand-nephew Judah, grand-niece Josie and beloved cousins and extended family.
Ned Allen Barry
(1975 – 2023)
Edwin “Ned” Allen Barry, born October 2, 1975, of Cumming, Georgia, passed away on August 23, 2023. Ned was a Senior Applications Engineer for NSI-MI Technologies and was a member of the AMTA community since attending his first AMTA conference in 2014 and was a regular contributor to the AMTA Proceedings.
He was born in San Diego, California and grew up in the Plattsburgh, New York area where he attended Plattsburgh High School. Ned earned his B. Sc. Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York and completed his M.S. and Ph.D. Electrical Engineering at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Not one to shy away from challenges, Ned’s thesis title for his Doctorate was, “Terahertz Generation in Submicron Nitride-based Semiconductor Devices.” Much of the work in his career was spent in antenna design, development, and characterization of antenna performance. In addition to his thesis, Ned was the author or co-author of 9 journal articles and 14 conference papers and presentations.
Throughout his career, Ned progressively took on roles with increasing levels of responsibility, he started his professional career at the US Army Research Laboratory in Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland. Ned also worked for the Raytheon Company’s Missile Systems in Tucson, Arizona. The bulk of his career, however, was spent working for NSI-MI Technologies in Suwanee, Georgia located in the North Atlanta Metro area where he focused on high-frequency antenna development for antenna measurement system products.
Ned is survived by his loving wife, Nancy Amador. He is also survived by his parents, Norman and Judy Barry, his aunt, Jill Poisson (John), his uncle, David Allen (Jerelyn), his aunt, Sue Barry, cousins, Carling Barry, Jayme Poisson (Dan Robson), Oliver Robson and Charlie Robson.
Details for a Celebration of Ned’s Life and a Tribute Wall can be found here
Dr. Dean L. Mensa
(1939 – 2023)
Dr. Dean L. Mensa, pioneer in the field of Radar Cross Section (RCS) measurements and high-resolution RCS imaging passed away on 8 July 2023 following a year-long illness. In 1951 at age 12, Dean immigrated with his mother from Pinerolo, Italy to Los Angeles, California. Upon graduation from Belmont High School in 1957, the United States Navy recruited Dean into Civil Service and supported his college education and development as an Engineer/Scientist at the Navy’s Pacific Missile Test Center (PMTC), Point Mugu, California. Through this support, Dean completed his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering at the University of California Los Angeles in 1961. Dean married his high school sweetheart Judy in 1960 (he had to wait for her to graduate from high school) and they began their young family having three children: Denise, Debbie, and Dino.
Jamie D. Huff
(1947 – 2023)
James (Jamie) D. Huff, CEO & President of The Howland Company and a longtime Senior Member of AMTA, passed away on 17 June 2023. Jamie was an exceptional leader, visionary, and mentor who played an instrumental role in the antenna measurement community. He worked in the antenna industry his entire career having started shortly after graduating from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He spent his career first at Scientific-Atlanta and later with The Howland Company. He was a key supporter of AMTA and published 18 technical papers in the AMTA publication archive.
Beyond his professional achievements, Jamie was an incredibly warm, compassionate, and generous individual. He fostered a culture of inclusivity, respect, and teamwork within our organization. Jamie believed in empowering every employee, nurturing their talents, and encouraging their growth. His legacy will forever be imprinted in the hearts and minds of all who had the privilege of working alongside him.
Ray Howland
(1934 – 2023)
Ray Howland passed away January 29th, 2023, just a few days before his 89th birthday, after a long illness. He had been retired from The Howland Company for several years, but his presence was always felt. Ray was a long-time member of AMTA and at most recently a Fellow Emeritus member. Ray contributed much to AMTA over the years by publishing technical papers and as the founder of The Howland Company, was a corporate supporter of the fall conferences. For his technical achievements to the community, he was award the AMTA Distinguished Achievement Award in 2003.
Ray was born in 1934 in LaGrange, Georgia. His father was a pastor and his mother a schoolteacher. He spent his childhood and youth in North Carolina and eastern Pennsylvania. He attended Rice University, served in the US Army in Germany and California, and following his Army service continued his studies at George Washington University and Cornell.
Ray began working with engineering firm Jansky & Bailey as he was completing his master’s degree at Cornell, and also worked as a researcher at Cornell Aeronautical Lab. In 1965 he moved his young family to Atlanta, Georgia, and began work as a design engineer in the Instrumentation Division of Scientific-Atlanta. As he rose through the ranks at S-A, his responsibilities moved away from engineering and into program management and sales. That was not the future he saw for himself, so in 1974 he left Scientific-Atlanta and launched The Howland Company as an independent consulting engineering firm. The continued success of The Howland Company nearly 50 years later is a testament to the values, vision, and skills he brought to the project, along with his success in recruiting some of the very best minds in the industry to join him and share the journey.
Ray Howland is survived by his wife Linda, two sons and three stepsons and their families, including ten grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
Jesper Hansen
(1929 – 2023)
Professor Jesper E. Hansen of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) passed away on 14th January 2023 at the age of 93 years. He had retired from DTU in 1997 completing a 40 years career in electromagnetics. In the antenna measurement community, Jesper is recognized for his ground-breaking contribution to the spherical near-field antenna measurement technique, and his editorship of the seminal monograph “Spherical Near-Field Antenna Measurements” with co-authors Frank Jensen, Flemming Holm Larsen, and Jørgen Hald from 1988. Today, this book remains the central reference for researchers and engineers engaged in spherical near-field antenna measurements. Jesper was also responsible for establishing DTU’s cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA) resulting in the establishment of the DTU-ESA Spherical Near-Field Antenna Test Facility; and together with Niels Christian Albertsen and Niels Eilskov Jensen, he founded the company TICRA in 1971. In recognition of his work, Jesper received AMTA´s Distinguished Achievement Award in 1991.
Jesper E. Hansen was a gentle and most respected scientist and teacher, always loyal and supportive to his colleagues and students - and always very modest about his own accomplishments. He was for many years an eminent Head of the Antenna Group at the Electromagnetics Institute. Jesper was excellent not only in his professional field, he was highly interested and most knowledgeable also in arts, history, music, and ornithology – and he was a very skilled piano player. Jesper leaves his daughter Louise, his son Ulrik, and four grandchildren.
