EDUCATION:

 

·           PhD in EE: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL 1972.

·           MS in EE: University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA, 1970.

·           BS in EE: American University of Beirut , Lebanon, 1968. (with Distinction and Honors).

 

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

 

             Academic:

·           Florida 21st Century Chair and Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering

 and Computer Science, University of Central Florida (09/08-date)

·           Dean, College of Engineering and Computer Science, University of Central Florida (01/10-07/12) 

·           Interim Dean, College of Engineering and Computer Science, University of Central Florida (01/09-12/09) 

·           Professor, Department of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering, Secondary Appointment (09/08-date)

·           Emeritus Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, (05/08 –date)

·           Bell of PA/Bell Atlantic Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, (09/89-05/08)

·           Chairman, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, (07/91-01/98)

·           Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, (09/85-08/08))

·           Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, (01/76-08/85)

·           Visiting Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, Univ. of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign, (09/72-05/74)

 

Industrial:

·           Technical Consultant; Aluminum Company of America, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (04/85-12/88)

·           Technical Consultant; Gulf R & D Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (06/79-12/84)

·           Research Engineer; Shell Development Company, Houston, Texas, (06/74-12/75)

·           Member of Technical Staff; Bell Telephone Laboratory, Columbus, Ohio, (05/70-08/70)

·           Member of Technical Staff; English Electric Leo-Marconi Computers Ltd, England (05/66-08/66)

 

 

 

SELECTED ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE (CECS) AT UCF:

 

  • Developed a Strategic Plan for the College with input and support from Faculty, Staff, Students and Advisory Board
  • Developed and executed a plan for the closure of the Engineering Technology Department in the College at the request of the Provost
  • Managed the University mandated audit of the College which was requested by the Board of Trustees shortly prior to Dr. Simaan assuming his role as Interim Dean
  • Completed and implemented all of the compliance requirements resulting from the Audit
  • Created a budgeting process for the College for distribution of funds and resources to departments and programs.
  • Increased undergraduate enrollment by 50% from 4,468 (16th largest in US) in 2009 to 6,702 (8th largest in US) in 2012
  • Increased graduate enrollment by 35% from 957 (46th largest in US) in 2009 to 1,293 (42nd largest in US) in 2012
  • Improved the National Ranking of the college from 86th in 2009 to 70th in 2012 in the US News and World Report Ranking of Engineering Graduate Schools
  • Hired 28 Junior Faculty Members in 2010 - 2012
  • Conducted a National Search for Chair of Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering Department
  • Conducted a National Search for Chair of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering Department
  • Created the CECS Engineering Leadership and Innovation Institute (ELI2) and appointed its first Director.
  • Created the CECS Office for Diversity and Inclusion and appointed its first Director.
  • Created the CECS Office for Marketing and Communication and hired its first Director
  • Renamed the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) as the Department of EECS and
  • Reorganized the EECS Department  into two Divisions:  The Electrical and Computer Engineering Division (ECE) and the Computer Science Division (CS)
  • Reorganized the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering (MMAE) into the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) and
  • Created a separate Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE)
  • Created an External Advisory Board for the College and organized two yearly meetings of the Board every year
  • Created a Planning and Budgeting Committee for the College that includes elected faculty and staff to provide input to the dean on planning and budget issues.
  • Secured funds ($2M) to build a state of the art Fume Hoods facility on campus for the Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Department
  • Created Eight Endowed Faculty Fellow positions for Junior Faculty
  • Developed a faculty workload policy for the College
  • Co-hosted the 2010 and 2011 HENAAC Conference for Hispanics in Engineering and Science held at Disney World and served as co-chair of it awards committee

 

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

 

             Control Systems, Game Theory, and Optimization Methods:

·           Control and Performance Optimization of the Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)

·           Cooperative Control of Teams of Semi-Autonomous Systems

·           Agile Control of Military Operations in the Presence of an Adversary

·           Dynamic Games with emphasis on the Stackelberg Leader-Follower Strategies 

·           Control and Optimization of Metal Rolling/Cooling Processes

·           Flow and Congestion Control in Networks with Competitive Users

 

Signal Processing:

·           Geophysical Signal Processing, Deconvolution

·           Multichannel Array Processing

·           Seismic Imaging and Interpretation of the Earth subsurface

·           Pattern Recognition

·           AI and Knowledge-Based Signal and Image Processing

·           Multi-Target Tracking

 

Telecommunication:

·           Array Signal Processing

·           Adaptive Antenna Arrays, Beamforming

·           Interference Attenuation

·           Flow and Congestion Control in Networks with Competitive Users

 

 

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS:

 

·           National Academy of Engineering (NAE) - Member

·           Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) - Life Fellow

·           American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) - Fellow

·           American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) – Life Fellow

·           American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) - Fellow

·           National Academy of Inventors (NAI) - Fellow

·           Electromagnetics Academy (EMA) - Fellow

·           Phi Eta Sigma (National Freshmen Honor Society) - Honorary Member

·           Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) - Active Member (Silver Certificate)

 

 

PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION:

 

·           Registered Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania

 

 

SELECTED RECENT AWARDS:

 

·           Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), 2015

·           Elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), 2014

·           Received the Award for Distinguished Service in Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008

·           Received the IEEE William E. Sayle II Award for Achievement in Education, 2007

·           Elected Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), 2005

·           Elected to Membership in the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE), 2000.

·           Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science ( AAAS ), 1999.

·           Received the Prize Paper Award, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 1999.

·           Received the Distinguished Alumnus Award, ECE Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1995.

·           Received the Beitle-Veltri Memorial Teaching Award, School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 1990.

·           Elected Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE ), 1988.

·           Received the Best Technical Paper Award, Sigma Xi, Alcoa Chapter, for paper published in Pattern Recognition, 1988

·           Received the Board of Visitors Faculty Award, School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 1986.

·           Received the Transaction Best Paper Award, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 1985.

·           Elected Honorary Member, Phi Eta Sigma (National Freshmen Honor Society), 1983.

·           Received the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding EE Professor, University of Pittsburgh, 1977, 1979, 1983, 1984.

 

 

SELECTED RECENT EDITORIAL ACTIVITIES:

 

·            Series Editor, Advances in Geophysical Data Processing, JAI Press (01/83-12/92)

·            Co-Editor, Journal of Multidimensional Systems and Signal Processing, MSSP (01/89 - 12/04)

·            Member of Editorial Board, IEEE Press (01/90-12/93)

·            Member of Editorial Board, Proceedings of the IEEE (01/92-12/00 and 01/06 - 12/11)

·            Member of Editorial Board, Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, JOTA (01/86 - 04/12)

·            Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, GRS (09/86-03/90 and 08/01 - 12/11)

·            Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems-Part II, CAS (7/97-10/99)

·            Associate Editor, Journal of Circuits, Systems and Computers (01/93-08/99)

·            Editorial Advisory Board, Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering, ICAE (09/03 - date)

·            Member of Editorial Advisory Board, IEEE  Systems Journal, SYSJ (01/06 – 01/21)

·            Member of Editorial Board, IEEE Access, (10/12 – 10/19)

 

 

SELECTED RECENT IEEE ACTIVITIES:

 

·            Publicity Chairman, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Houston, TX (12/75)

·            Counselor, IEEE Student Branch, University of Pittsburgh (09/78-08/80 and (09/83 - 06/87)

·            Chair, Public Relations Committee, IEEE Control Systems Society (01/79 - 05/81)

·            Division I Rep to IEEE EAC Continuing Education Committee  (01/80 -12/84)

·            Member, IEEE Publications Board (01/85 -12/87)  

·            Advisory Board, IEEE Potential Magazine (04/85 - 02/87)

·            Member of Editorial Board, IEEE Press (01/90 -12/93)

·            Member of Editorial Board, Proceedings of the IEEE (01/92 -12/00 and 01/06 - 12/11)

·            Member, IEEE Prize Paper & Fellowships Awards Committee (01/01-12/04)

·            Member, IEEE Fellow Committee (01/90 - 01/93 and 01/02-12/04 and 01/10 -12/14)

·            Member, IEEE James H. Mulligan Jr. Education Medal Committee (10/10 - date)

·            Chair, IEEE James H. Mulligan Jr. Education Medal Committee (10/12 - 10/14)

 

 

SELECTED RECENT OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:

 

·           IFAC World Congress, International Program Committee, San Francisco, CA (1996)

·           Member, AACC Bellman Control Heritage Award Subcommittee (1994-95)

·           Chair, AACC Education Award Subcommittee (1996-97)

·           Chair, AACC Awards Committees (1997-99)

·           Chair, AACC Education Committee (1999 - 2004)

·           Secretary, Engineering Section (Section M), American Association for the Advancement of Science: AAAS-M (2004-date)

·           Member of Steering Group, Engineering Section (Section M), American Association for the Advancement of Science: AAAS-M (2004-date)

·           Member, Committee on Sections, American Association for the Advancement of Science (02/12 - 02/14)

·           EE Program Evaluator,  ABET (1993-98 and 2000-07)

·           NAE, Electronics Engineering Section Peer Committee (2004-06), Committee Chair (2006)

·           NAE, Committee on Membership (2007-10)