In high school John Rohrbaugh decided to put his affinity for math and science to practical use by pursuing a degree in engineering at Youngstown State University. John graduated with a B.S.E.E. in 1980 and immediately began work for the General Motors EMC Test Facility in Warren, Ohio. In 1982, an opportunity to work at the Georgia Tech Research Institute took John to Atlanta, GA. There he earned his M.S.E.E. from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1985, focusing on analog, RF/μwave and electro-optics design, and got his first taste of Department of Defense work through an Intergovernmental Personnel Act assignment at Phillips Air Force Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM. After 15 years at Georgia Tech, John returned to Ohio and General Motors for one year, but was drawn back to New Mexico in 1998 by the level of system development solutions that he could work on there. From the Air Force Research Lab at Kirkland Air Force Base, John then became Senior Electrical Engineer Manager for Northrop Grumman Defense Mission Systems in Albequerque. In 2007, he moved to Northrop Grumman Technical Services in Clearfield UT where he is currently Senior Electrical Engineer Manager and still solving problems.
Over the span of his 32-year career, John has been an active and respected member of the EMC community. He has acquired significant experience in EMI, EMC and EMP system design, simulation and testing and has contributed much to the development of testing procedures and equipment. He has managed system development programs, including high voltage pulsed power testing and simulation, and RF/μwave radiated and conducted interference test system. Still, he never had a course on EMC in school to name a few. His expertise has developed through hands-on experience as the field of compliance engineering has emerged over the past several decades. To any aspiring compliance engineers, John recommends an EMC lab residency as the best way of really learning the tools of the trade and what to do with them. In return, you’ll be rewarded with interesting and diverse problems to solve … every day!
