Dr. Porter was granted her Ph.D. from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, in 2015. She also has an M.Eng. and a B.Eng. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, completed in 2008 and 2010, respectively. She has been with the Translational Medical Device Laboratory at National University of Ireland Galway since 2015.

Dr. Porter’s current research is focused on novel medical applications of electromagnetic and electrical engineering technologies. She works on projects for therapeutic and diagnostic techniques, including microwave imaging for breast cancer diagnosis and hyperthermia and ablation for treatment of disease. She also works on supportive and assistive technologies for children with autism and intellectual disabilities. Dr. Porter is also interested in the development of anatomically and electrically realistic phantoms for testing of novel biomedical applications, and the standardized dielectric measurements of biological tissues.

Dr Porter is an active member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), MiMed TD1301 COST Action (Accelerating the Technological, Clinical and Commercialisation Progress in the Area of Medical Microwave Imaging), and EMF-MED BM1309 COST Action (European network for innovative uses of EMFs in biomedical applications). Further, she was recently elected Vice-Chair of COST Action CA17115 MyWAVE (European network for advancing Electromagnetic hyperthermic medical technologies). She is also a regular reviewer of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (TBME), IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques (T-MTT), and Medical Physics, among others.

• International Union of Radio Science (URSI) Young Scientist Award (March 2018)
• Marie-Curie Fellowship (May 2017)
• International Union of Radio Science (URSI) Young Scientist Award (April 2017)
• 2016 Rising Star in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Oct. 2016)
• Irish Research Council ‘New Foundations’ Grant (Feb. 2016)
• Royal Irish Academy Charlemont Grant (Jan. 2016)
• D. W. Ambridge Prize (May 2015), awarded by McGill University for the most outstanding graduating doctoral student in
• Natural Sciences or Engineering
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Antennas and Propagation Society Doctoral Research Award (Oct. 2013)
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship (PDF), 2015 – 2017
  • Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS D), 2011 – 2014
  • Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS M), 2009 – 2010
  • Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA), Summer 2008
  • Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA), Summer 2007

• Le Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FQRNT) [Research Fund of Quebec: Nature and Technologies]
  • Postdoctoral research scholarship, 2015
  • Bourses de doctorat en recherche (B2) [Doctoral Research Award], 2011
  • Bourses de maîtrise en recherche (B1) [Master’s Research Award], 2009

• McGill Engineering Doctoral Award (MEDA), 2010 – 2013
  • Hydro-Quebec Doctoral Award Fellowship
  • Vadasz Doctoral Fellowship

• Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel Awards (G.R.E.A.T.)
  • 6 awards for travel to conferences (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014)

• Winner of the hSITE (Healthcare support through information technology advancements) ARR (annual research review) poster competition (Nov. 2013)
• First place prize winner of poster competition at MEDTEQ (Quebec Consortium for Industrial Research and Innovation in Medical Technology) Forum (Oct. 2013)
• Winner of the hSITE (Healthcare support through information technology advancements) ARR (annual research review) poster competition (June 2012)

Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications (first-author & corresponding author)

[1]  E. Dunne, A. Santorelli, B. McGinley, G. Leader, M. O’Halloran, and E. Porter, “Image-based classification of bladder state using electrical impedance tomography,” Physiol. Meas., 2018 [Epub ahead of print].

[2] A. La Gioia, M. O’Halloran, and E. Porter, “Modelling the sensing radius of a coaxial probe for dielectric characterisation of biological tissues,” IEEE Access, vol. 6, pp. 46516 – 46526, 2018.

[3] E. Porter, S. Salahuddin, A. La Gioia, M. A. Elahi, A. Shahzad, A. Kumar, D. Kilroy, and M. O’Halloran, “Characterisation of the Dielectric Properties of the Bladder over the Microwave Range,” IEEE J. Electromagn., RF., Microw. Med. Biol., vol. 2, no. 3, 2018.

[4] A. La Gioia, S. Salahuddin, M. O’Halloran, and E. Porter, “Quantification of the Sensing Radius of a Coaxial Probe for Accurate Interpretation of Heterogeneous Tissue Dielectric Data,” IEEE J. Electromagn., RF., Microw. Med. Biol., vol. 2, no. 3, 2018.

[5] E. Dunne, A. Santorelli, B. McGinley, G. Leader, M. O’Halloran, and E. Porter, “Supervised Learning Classifiers for Electrical Impedance-based Bladder State Detection,” Scientific Reports, vol. 8, article no. 5363, 2018.

[6] A. La Gioia, M. O’Halloran, M. A. Elahi, and E. Porter, “Investigation of Histology Radius for Dielectric Characterisation of Heterogeneous Materials,” IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., vol. 25, no. 3, 2018.

[7] E. Dunne, B. McGinley, M. O’Halloran and E. Porter, “A Realistic Pelvic Phantom for Electrical Impedance Measurement,” Physiological Measurement, vol. 39, no. 3, 2018.

[8] E. Porter, A. La Gioia, A. Santorelli and M. O’Halloran, “Modelling of the Dielectric Properties of Biological Tissues within the Histology Region”, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 3290-3301, 2017.

[9] B. McDermott, B. McGinley, K. Krukiewicz, B. Divilly, M. Jones, M. Biggs, M. O’Halloran, and E. Porter, “Stable Tissue-Mimicking Materials and an Anatomically Realistic, Adjustable Head Phantom for Electrical Impedance Tomography,” Biomedical Physics and Engineering Express, 2017 [in press].

[10] E. Porter and M. O’Halloran, “Investigation of Histology Region in Dielectric Measurements of Heterogeneous Tissues,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 65, no. 10, 2017.

[11] S. Salahuddin, M. O’Halloran, L. Farrugia, J. Bonello, P. S. Wismayer, C. V. Sammut and E. Porter, “Effects of Standard Coagulant Agents on the Dielectric Properties of Fresh Human Blood,” IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 3283-3289, 2017.

[12] E. Porter, H. Bahrami, A. Santorelli, B. Gosselin, L. Rusch, M. Popović, “A Wearable Microwave Antenna Array for Time-Domain Breast Tumor Screening,” IEEE Trans. Med. Imag., vol. 35, no. 6, pp. 1501-1509, 2016.

[13] E. Porter, M. Coates, and M. Popović, “An Early Clinical Study of Time-Domain Microwave Radar for Breast Health Monitoring,” IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., vol. 63, no. 3, pp. 530-539, 2016.

[14] E. Porter, A. Santorelli, R. Kazemi, and M. Popović, “Microwave Time-Domain Radar: Healthy Tissue Variations Over the Menstrual Cycle,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1-4, 2015.

[15] E. Porter, G. Walls, Y. Zhou, M. Popović, and J. D. Schwartz, “A Flexible Broadband Antenna and Transmission Line Network for a Wearable Microwave Breast Cancer Detection System,” Prog. Electromagn. Res. Lett., vol. 49, pp. 111-118, 2014.

[16] E. Porter, A. Santorelli, and M. Popović, “Time-Domain Microwave Radar Applied to Breast Imaging: Measurement Reliability in a Clinical Setting,” Prog. Electromagn. Res., vol. 149, pp. 119-132, 2014.

[17] E. Porter, E. Kirshin, A. Santorelli, and M. Popović, “Microwave Breast Screening in the Time-Domain: Identification and Compensation of Measurement-Induced Uncertainties,” Prog. Electromagn. Res. B, vol. 55, pp. 115–130, 2013.

[18] E. Porter, E. Kirshin, A. Santorelli, M. Coates, and M. Popović, “Time-Domain Multistatic Radar System for Microwave Breast Screening,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 229 – 232, 2013.

[19] E. Porter, A. Santorelli, M. Coates, and M. Popović, “Time-domain microwave breast cancer detection: extensive system testing with phantoms,” Technol. Cancer Res. Treat., vol. 12, pp. 131 – 143, 2013.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications (co-authored)

[1] B. McDermott, E. Porter, A. Santorelli, B. Divilly, L. Morris, M. Jones, B. McGinley, and M. O’Halloran, “Anatomically and dielectrically realistic microwave head phantom with circulation and reconfigurable lesions,” Progress In Electromagnetics Research B, vol. 78, pp. 47-60, 2017.

[2] S. Salahuddin, E. Porter, F. Krewer, M. Glavin, E. Jones, R. Dwyer, M. Kerin and M. O’Halloran,“Optimised Analytical Models of the Dielectric Properties of Biological Tissue,” Med. Eng. Phys., vol. 43, pp. 103-111, 2017.

[3] S. Salahuddin, E. Porter, P. M. Meaney, and M. O’Halloran, “Effect of Logarithmic and Linear Frequency Scales on Parametric Modelling of Tissue Dielectric Data,” Biomed. Phys. Eng. Expr., vol. 3, no. 1, 2017.

[4] Y. Li, E. Porter, A. Santorelli, M. Popović, and M. Coates, “Microwave Breast Cancer Detection via Cost-sensitive Ensemble Classifiers: Phantom and Patient Investigation,” Biomed. Signal Proc. Control, vol. 31, pp. 366-376, Jan. 2017.

[5] A. Santorelli, E. Porter, E. Kang, T. Piske, M. Popović, and J. Schwartz, “A Time-Domain Microwave System for Breast Cancer Detection Using a Flexible Circuit Board,” IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., vol. 64, no. 11, pp. 2986-2994, 2015.

[6] H. Bahrami, E. Porter, A. Santorelli, B. Gosselin, M. Popović, and L. A. Rusch, “Flexible Sixteen Antenna Array for Microwave Breast Cancer Detection,” IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng., vol. 62, no. 10, pp. 2516-2525, 2015.

[7] A. Santorelli, E. Porter, E. Kirshin, Y. J. Liu, and M. Popović, “Investigation of Classifiers for Tumor Detection with an Experimental Time-domain Breast Screening System,” Prog. Electromagn. Res., vol. 144, pp. 45-57, 2014.

[8] A. Santorelli, M. Chudzik, E. Kirshin, E. Porter, A. Lujambio, I. Arnedo, M. Popović, and J. Schwartz, “Experimental Demonstration of Pulse Shaping for Time-Domain Microwave Breast Imaging,” Prog. Electromagn. Res., vol. 133, pp. 309 – 329, 2013.

Peer-Reviewed Conference Publications (first-authored & presented)

[1] E. Porter, A. La Gioia, M. A. Elahi, and M. O’Halloran, “Significance of Heterogeneities in Accurate Dielectric Measurements of Biological Tissues,” in XXXIInd International Union of Radio Science General Assembly & Scientific Symposium (URSI GASS), Montreal, Canada, 2017.

[2] E. Porter, A. La Gioia, and M. O’Halloran, “Impact of Histology Region Size on Measured Dielectric Properties of Biological Tissues,” in Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), St. Petersburg, Russia, 2017.

[3] E. Porter, K. Duff, M. Popović, and M. Coates, “Investigation of Time-Domain Microwave Radar with Breast Clinic Patients,” in Proc. 10th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), Davos, Switzerland, Apr. 10–15, 2016.

[4] E. Porter, R. Kazemi, A. Santorelli, M. Popović, “Study of Daily Tissue Changes through Breast Monitoring with Time-Domain Microwave Radar,” in Proc. 9th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), Lisbon, Portugal, Apr. 12–17, 2015.

[5] E. Porter, A. Santorelli, M. Coates and M. Popović, “Breast Tissue Screening with Microwave Time-Domain Radar: Initial Clinical Trials,” 2014 IEEE Conference on Antenna Measurements and Applications, Antibes Juan les Pins, France, Nov. 16-20, 2014.

[6] E. Porter, A. Santorelli, and M. Popović, “Breast Monitoring via Time-Domain Microwave Radar: Early Clinical Trial Study,” in Proc. 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Chicago, U.S.A., Aug. 26-30, 2014.

[7] E. Porter, A. Santorelli, and M. Popović, “Time-Domain Microwave Radar for Breast Screening: Initial Testing with Volunteers,” in Proc. 8th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), The Hague, The Netherlands, Apr. 6–11, 2014.

[8] E. Porter, A. Santorelli, and M. Popović, “Measurement Uncertainties in Differential Radar Applied to Breast Imaging,” in Proc. 2014 IEEE Sensors Applications Symposium (SAS), Queenstown, New Zealand, Feb. 18-20, 2014.

[9] E. Porter, E. Kirshin, A. Santorelli, and M. Popović, “A Clinical Prototype for Microwave Breast Imaging Using Time-Domain Measurements,” in Proc. 7th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), Gothenburg, Sweden, Apr. 8–12, 2013.

[10] E. Porter, A. Santorelli, S. Winkler, M. Coates, and M. Popović, “Time- domain microwave cancer screening: optimized pulse shaping applied to realistically shaped breast phantoms,” Microwave Symposium Digest (MTT), 2012 IEEE MTT-S International, Montréal, Canada, pp. 1 – 3, June 17 – 22, 2012.

[11] E. Porter, A. Santorelli, D. Coulibaly, M. Coates, and M. Popović, “Time-domain microwave breast screening system: Testing with advanced realistic breast phantoms,” in Proc. 6th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), Prague, Czech Republic, Mar. 26–30, 2012.

[12] E. Porter, A. Santorelli, A. Bourdon, D. Coulibaly, M. Coates and M. Popović, “Time-domain microwave breast cancer detection: experiments with comprehensive glandular phantoms,” in Proc. 2011 Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference (APMC), Melbourne, Australia, Dec. 5-8, 2011.

[13] E. Porter, A. Santorelli, M. Coates and M. Popović, “Microwave Breast Imaging: Time-Domain Experiments on Tissue Phantoms,” in Proc. 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation (AP-S), Spokane, Washington, July 3-8, 2011.

[14] E. Porter, A. Santorelli, M. Coates and M. Popović, “An experimental system for time-domain microwave breast imaging,” in Proc. 5th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), Rome, Italy, April 11-15, 2011.

[15] E. Porter, J. Fakhoury, R. Oprisor, M. Coates and M. Popović, “Improved tissue phantoms for experimental validation of microwave breast cancer detection,” in Proc. 4th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), Barcelona, Spain, April 12-16, 2010.

Peer-Reviewed Conference Publications (co-authored)

[1] A. La Gioia, S. Salahuddin, E. Porter and M. O’Halloran, “Impact of radial heterogeneities of biological tissues on dielectric measurements,” in International Conference on Electromagnetics in Advanced Applications (ICEAA), Italy, 2017.

[2] S. Salahuddin, L. Farrugia, C. V. Sammut, M. O’Halloran, and E. Porter, “Dielectric Properties of Fresh Human Blood,” in International Conference on Electromagnetics in Advanced Applications (ICEAA), Italy, 2017.

[3] S. Salahuddin, A. La Gioia, M. A. Elahi, E. Porter, M. O’Halloran and A. Shahzad, “Comparison of in-vivo and ex-vivo Dielectric Properties of Biological Tissues,” in International Conference on Electromagnetics in Advanced Applications (ICEAA), Italy, 2017.

[4] M. A. Elahi, B. Lavoie, E. Porter, M. Glavin, E. Jones, E. C. Fear, and M. O’Halloran, “Comparison of Radar-based Microwave Imaging Algorithms applied to Experimental Breast Phantoms,” in XXXIInd International Union of Radio Science General Assembly & Scientific Symposium (URSI GASS), Montreal, Canada, 2017.

[5] A. La Gioia, E. Porter, and M. O’Halloran, “Examination of the Sensing Radius of Open-ended Coaxial Probes in Dielectric Measurements of Biological Tissues,” in Proc. IEEE AP-S Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (APS/URSI), San Diego, U.S.A., 2017.

[6] B. J. McDermott, E. Porter, M. Jones and M. O’Halloran, “A Novel Tissue-Mimicking Material for Phantom Development in Medical Applications of EIT,” in Proc. 18th International Conference on Biomedical Applications of Electrical Impedance Tomography, Hanover, U.S.A., June 21 – 24, 2017.

[7] E. Dunne, E. Porter, B. McGinley, and M. O’Halloran, “3D Finite Element Mesh of the Adult Human Pelvis for Electrical Impedance Tomography,” in Proc. 18th International Conference on Biomedical Applications of Electrical Impedance Tomography, Hanover, U.S.A., June 21 – 24, 2017.

[8] A. Shahzad, E. Porter, A. Elahi, B. Oliveira, and M. O’Halloran, “Microwave Imaging for Early Stage Breast Cancer Detection: State-of-the-art in Sensing and Signal Processing,” in Proc. 2017 International Workshop on Nanodevice Technologies at Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan, March 3, 2017.

[9] A. Santorelli, E. Porter, S. Dantas, M. Popović, J. Schwartz, “Low-cost hardware for a time-domain microwave system for breast health monitoring,” in Proc. 10th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), Davos, Switzerland, Apr. 10–15, 2016.

[10] A. Santorelli, O. Laforest, E. Porter, M. Popović, “Image Classification for a Time-Domain

[11] Microwave Radar System: Experiments with Stable Modular Breast Phantoms,” in Proc. 9th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), Lisbon, Portugal, Apr. 12–17, 2015.

[12] Y. Li, E. Porter, M. Coates, “Imaging-based Classification Algorithms on Clinical Trial Data with Injected Tumour Responses,” in Proc. 9th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), Lisbon, Portugal, Apr. 12–17, 2015.

[13] H. Bahrami, E. Porter, A. Santorelli, B. Gosselin, M. Popović, and L. A. Rusch, “Flexible Sixteen Monopole Antenna Array for Microwave Breast Cancer Detection,” in Proc. 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), Chicago, U.S.A., Aug. 26-30, 2014.

[14] A. Santorelli, Y. Li, E. Porter, M. Popović, and M. Coates, “Investigation of Classification Algorithms for a Prototype Microwave Breast Cancer Monitor,” in Proc. 8th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), The Hague, The Netherlands, Apr. 6–11, 2014.

[15] A. Santorelli, E. Kirshin, E. Porter, M. Popović, and J. Schwartz, “Improved Calibration for an Experimental Time-Domain Microwave Imaging System,” in Proc. 7th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), Gothenburg, Sweden, Apr. 8–12, 2013.

[16] S. Winkler, E. Porter, A. Santorelli, M. Coates, and M. Popović, “Recent Progress in Ultra-Wideband Microwave Breast Cancer Detection,” in Proc. International Conference on Ultra-wideband (ICUWB), Syracuse, NY, USA, Sept. 17-20, 2012.

[17] A. Santorelli, E. Porter, M. Popović and J. Schwartz, “Pulse Shaping for Time-Domain Microwave Breast Tumour Detection: Experiments with Realistic Tissue Phantoms,” in Proc. 6th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), Prague, Czech Republic, Mar. 26–30, 2012.

[18] G. Zhu, B. Oreshkin, E. Porter, M. Coates, and M. Popović, “Numerical Breast Models for Commercial FDTD Simulators,” in Proc. 3rd European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP), Berlin, Germany, Mar. 23–27, 2009.

Theses

[1] E. Porter, “Microwave time-domain radar for monitoring breast health: development and testing of an early prototype,” Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 2015.

[2] E. Porter, “Microwave breast tumor detection: simulation and design of experiments with tissue phantoms,” Master’s Thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 2010.