FCC chief
Karen Rackley ’83
Spring 2005
Karen Rackley of Alexandria, Va., came
to Clemson in the late 1970s to major in engineering. After earning
a degree in electrical engineering, she joined the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) in its mass media bureau, the group that licenses
radio and TV stations.
Rackley, a licensed engineer, now serves as chief of the technical
rules branch in the Policy and Rules Division of the FCC’s Office
of Engineering and Technology. She leads a team of engineers and attorneys
who develop technical standards to allow consumer devices to operate
using the radio frequency spectrum without harming licensed users.
Recently, her team developed a set of technical specifications and
operating parameters that will allow broadband Internet services to
be delivered to the home using power lines. This new technology is
called Broadband over Powerline (BPL). Today, most homes in the nation
have unlicensed consumer devices authorized by the FCC under the guidelines
set by Rackley and her team.