Carolyn Kahn Birkenstein serves as Chief Spectrum Economist at The MITRE Corporation. MITRE operates multiple federally funded research and development centers. In her position, which she created after developing the technical specialty, Carolyn leads spectrum economic, policy, strategy, integration, and collaboration initiatives across MITRE. She is regarded by her peers as having founded the field of Spectrum Economics.

For over 20 years, Carolyn has provided independent and objective advice to senior officials across the federal government to address their most challenging and sensitive economic and policy issues in the radio frequency spectrum domain. She has served as a member of the Department of Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee since 2016.

Carolyn holds an MBA in Finance and Marketing from McGill University and a BA with high honors in Economics and International Studies from Brandeis University.

She lives in Glencoe with her husband, Eric, and their three children.

This talk will cover what spectrum is, how it’s used, why it’s important, the big dollars at stake, and today’s biggest challenges. It will highlight some of the biggest wireless topics in the news, including 5G and Internet of Things.