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2:00 p.m.
Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building, Rm. 1110
For More Information:
Jess Molina
301 405 4471
jmolina2@umd.edu
http://www.ece.umd.edu/colloquium
Booz Allen Hamilton Distinguished Colloquium in Electrical and Computer Engineering
"Is the Radiation from Your Cell Phone a Health Hazard? Risk vs. Reality"
 Prof. Christopher Davis
Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland
Abstract:
Despite an overwhelming preponderance of evidence to the contrary, there continues to be some public concern that human exposure to radio frequency (RF) radiation from cell phones and base stations, even at relatively low levels, can constitute a health hazard. The media seize on any report of a possible health risk based on occasional reports of biological effects being produced by RF radiation, but ignore the much larger number of studies that find nothing. This talk will review the science underlying our understanding of how RF radiation can interact with biological systems and discuss why public concern about the health risk from cell phones and base stations is irrational. The claimed connection between cell phone use and cancer will be examined, and some of the legal cases that have kept the cell phone health controversy alive. A specific interaction mechanism that will be discussed is the possibility of nonlinearity in cells and tissue that might demodulate an RF carrier.
Bio:
Christopher C. Davis is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received the B.A. degree (with Honors) in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge in 1965, the M.A. degree from the University of Cambridge in 1970, and the Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of Manchester in 1970. From 1973-1975 he was a Instructor/Research Associate at Cornell University, and from 1982-83 was a Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He has been a recipient of the following Honors and Awards: University of Maryland Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, 1989-90; Fellow of the Institute of Physics, 1989; AT&T/ASEE Award for Excellence in Engineering Education,1990; Fellow of the IEEE, 1993; Invention of the Year Award in Information Technology, University of Maryland, 2000. Professor Davis is the author of the widely used text "Lasers and Electro-Optics," published by Cambridge University Press, and co-author with Jack Moore and Mike Coplan of the best selling text "Building Scientific Apparatus," now in its third edition published by Westview Press.
He is also author or co-author of 11 chapters in books, over 140 refereed journal articles and over 220 conference papers, and is the holder of seven awarded and several pending patents. He is Conference co-Chair of the SPIE Free Space Laser Communications Conference, and is a frequent invited lecturer both nationally and internationally.
He has served as a scientific consultant to several US Government agencies and industry. He is a member of the IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee SCC-34 SC2, which deals with RF exposure from wireless devices.
This Event is For: Campus • Clark School • All Students • Faculty • Post-Docs • Alumni • Corporate • Donors
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