John Matthew Pavlina

Title
Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering
Email
Department
Electrical, Computer & Software Engr Department
College
College of Engineering

Areas of Expertise

RF surface coils for MRI

RF Fields and Simulation for MRI

Surface acoustic wave devices

SAW Wireless Sensor Systems

Passive RFID surface acoustic wave devices and coding

RF Lab Equipment: vector network analyzer (VNA), spectrum analyzer, signal generator, impedance analyzer, etc.

John Matthew Pavlina

I am an electrical engineer and associate professor with years of combined academic and professional experience. I remain active in engineering education, undergraduate research, and my own research including four years of postdoctoral research in the areas of wireless sensors, experimental radiology, RF design and simulation, and surface acoustic wave technology.

I lived in Germany for four years working as a post-doc at the Universitäts Klinikum Freiburg working on MRI coils for use with high intensity focused ultrasound ablation techniques.  While at Albert-Ludwig Universität Freiburg I worked on disaster scenario technological advancements which might be employed in the rescue of buried or trapped people.

My time at the University of Central Florida in Orlando was spent trying to create novel wireless sensor technology for use by NASA.  We employed surface acoustic waves as the sensor platform and created a passive system by which we could detect changes in the environment.


  • Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering, University of Central Florida
  • M.S. - Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, University of Central Florida

  • CEC 220: Digital Circuit Design
  • CEC 222: Digital Circuit Design Lab

EE223: Linear Circuits Analysis I

EE335: Electrical Engineering 1

EE336: Electrical Engineering 1 Lab

EE340: Electric and Magnetic Fields

EGR101: Intro to Engineering

EGR115: Intro to Computing for Engineers

CEC220: Digital Circuit Design

CEC222: Digital Circuit Design Lab


1.  Eleanor Pahl, Akhan Almagambetov, and J. Matt Pavlina, Automatic Extraction and Classification of Flow Visualization features using Machine Vision and Neural Networks, NCUR 2020

2.  Pavlina, J. M., & Gray, B., Supplemental External Assignments Incorporating Immediate Feedback for use in Entry-level Coding Courses to Promote In-Class Active Learning Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Zone IV Conference, Boulder, Colorado. 2018, March

3.  Cameron Kurtz, Chad Rienart, Daniel Dyck, Julie Levitt, Faculty Mentor John Pavlina, The Impact of Red Iron-Oxide and Grain Geometry on Solid Rocket Motors for Amateur Rockets Reaching Mach 3, NCUR 2017

4.  Almagambetov, A., & Pavlina, J. M.Cross-sectional study of engineering student performance across different types of first-year digital logic design laboratories Paper presented at 2017 FYEE Conference, Daytona Beach, Florida. 2017, August

5.  J. M. Pavlina, Gray, Supplemental Outside-of-Classroom Assignments Incorporating Active Learning with Immediate Feedback in an Entry-level Coding Class, ASEE Pacific Southwest Section Conference, Tempe, AZ, 2017, 20-22 April


Post-Doctoral Fellow, Albert-Ludwig Universität Freiburg, 2010-2011

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Universitäts Klinikum Freiburg, 2011-2014


ASEE Member since 2016

IEEE Member since 2006