Jianming Jin writes electromagnetics textbook

ECE Professor Jianming Jin’s new book, Theory and Computation of Electromagnetic Fields, was recently published by Wiley-IEEE Press.

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.

Jin said his book is tailored to fit the needs of students in the ECE 520 and 540 courses.  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.

Many members of the ECE faculty felt for some time a need to have an Illinois textbook on electromagnetic theory.

“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.

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 Y. T. Lo Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

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.