Rate My Professor Jorge Vargas

Jorge Vargas is an Associate Professor of Engineering Technology in the College of Basic and Applied Sciences at Middle Tennessee State University, where he serves as the program coordinator for the Electromechanical Engineering Technology Concentration within the Bachelor of Science program. He earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from New Mexico State University in 2006. Vargas is actively involved in university service, including membership on the True Blue Core Committee and the General Education Committee from 2023 to 2026. He also mentors undergraduate researchers, with students presenting projects such as autonomous vehicle sensor testing at events like Posters at the Capitol.

His research specializes in autonomous vehicle sensors, microelectronics, MEMS, RF/microwave engineering, superconductors, thin film deposition, sputtering, magnetic properties, and magnetic materials. At MTSU, he leads the development of a sensor testbed for autonomous vehicles, employing Simulink models on host computers integrated with real-time target machines and Unreal Engine simulations to evaluate AV control units in real and virtual scenarios, including motion simulators paired with MATLAB for virtual testing. Vargas is the principal investigator for the MTSU portion of a $350,000 National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education grant awarded in 2024 to MTSU and Columbia State Community College, focused on developing modular training programs to certify technicians in robotics and automation. His scholarly contributions include 16 publications with over 450 citations, among them 'An Overview of Autonomous Vehicles Sensors and Their Vulnerability to Weather Conditions' (Sensors, 2021), 'Sensor Analysis and Semiconductor Process Advances for Autonomous Vehicles' (2022), 'Design of an Automotive Radar Sensor Firmware Resilient to Cyberattacks' (2020), 'Development of Sensors Testbed for Autonomous Vehicles' (2019), and earlier works on superconducting microstrip filters and MEMS switches such as 'Effectiveness of BaTiO3 dielectric patches on YBa2Cu3O7 thin films for MEM switches' (2014) and 'Design and Fabrication of Two Switch Superconducting Microstrip Hairpin Filters Using Series MEMS Switches' (2007). Vargas has provided expert commentary on electrical grid issues and autonomous vehicle technologies in local media.