Jianming Jin writes electromagnetics textbook

Jianming Jin, the Y. T. Lo Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering, has written a  new book, Theory and Computation of Electromagnetic Fields, recently published by Wiley-IEEE Press.

“They wanted to write this textbook even before I joined the faculty. I’m just fulfilling their wishes of many years as they have all encouraged me to take on this effort at various occasions,” Jin said.

The book is geared toward graduate courses on electromagnetic theory and computational electromagnetics. It is already being used for ECE 520: Electromagnetic Waves and Radiating Systems and ECE 540: Computational Electromagnetics. While books on electromagnetic theory and computational electromagnetics have been published, they do not match the contents or address certain important issues covered in the Illinois ECE courses.

The book is split in two sections. The first section contains electromagnetic theories and builds the foundation for the second part. The second section contains computational methods for electromagnetic fields and deals with complicated engineering applications.

The publisher’s note said concepts are steadily introduced by the author, allowing students to have an easy progression from electromagnetic theory to computational electromagnetics.

In 2006, Jin decided to go ahead and write this book. He realized the process would be a long one, but he decided it was important to take the initiative.

“Writing a textbook as a professor is a lot more time consuming than people think, because you have other time commitments, like class and research,” Jin said, who also holds .

Jin acknowledged the support of his colleagues and dedicated the book to the late professor Yuen-Tse Lo, a long-time ECE faculty member and a former director of the Electromagnetics Laboratory.

Although five years were spent writing the text, 15 years were spent testing the effectiveness of the text’s conceptual design on students, according to the publisher’s note, since many topics were treated differently from other existing textbooks.

Jin has written other books and course materials, including Electromagnetic Analysis and Design of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Finite Element Analysis of Antennas and Arrays, and The Finite Element Method in Electromagnetics (now in its second edition), which was one of Wiley’s bestsellers for many years.
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Contact: Jianming Jin, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 217/244-0756.

Writer: Reema Amin, ECE ILLINOIS.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, Engineering Communications Office, 217/244-7716, editor. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.