George E. Ponchak is a senior research engineer in the Communications Division at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in Cleveland, Ohio. His research interests include the development and characterization of microwave and millimeter-wave printed transmission lines and passive circuits, multilayer interconnects, uniplanar circuits, microwave microelectromechanical (MEMS) components, and microwave packaging.

Dr. Ponchak received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Cleveland State University in 1983, his master’s degree in electrical engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 1987, and his doctoral degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1997.

Dr. Ponchak is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT–S), and a member of the International Microelectronics and Packaging Society (IMAPS) and the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) Commission D. Dr. Ponchak was editor of a special issue of IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques on silicon Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (Si MMICs). He founded the IEEE Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems and served as its chair in 1998 and 2001 and its digest editor in 2000 and 2003. He has chaired many MTT–S International Microwave Symposium workshops and special sessions. He is a member of the IEEE International Microwave Symposium Technical Program Committee on Transmission Line Elements and served as its chair in 2003 and 2004, a member of the IEEE MTT–S AdCom Membership Services Committee, and a member of the IEEE MTT–S Technical Committee 12 on Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Packaging and Manufacturing. He received an award in 1997 for Best Paper of the International Society for Hybrid Microelectronics (ISHM) 30th International Symposium on Microelectronics.

During 1997 and 1998, and 2000 and 2001, Dr. Ponchak was a visiting lecturer at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He has authored and coauthored 100 papers in refereed journals and symposia proceedings. Dr. Ponchak joined the staff of the Communication Division at NASA Glenn in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1983.