Dr. Robert Weissbach

Interim Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology; Associate Professor of Engineering

Office Location:

Burke 170

Phone:

(814) 898 6346

Email:

rsw7@psu.edu

Profile

Biography

Dr. Robert Weissbach is an associate professor of engineering at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. He earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1987 from the University of Florida, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1990 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1998 from Arizona State University.

Dr. Weissbach chaired the Electrical Engineering Technology program from 1999-2007. Prior to attending graduate school, he spent six years working on nuclear submarine design and construction at General Dynamics Electric Boat Division in Groton, CT.

Dr. Weissbach is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE and a member of the American Society for Engineering Education ASEE . He is a registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Weissbach has been twice nominated for the Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows Teaching award, once nominated for the Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows Faculty Research Award, and once nominated for the Excellence in Outreach Award. He was named the IEEE Erie Section Person of the Year in February 2003. He received the ASEE Campus Representative Award in June 2003 and the ASEE North Central Section Campus Representative Award in April 2004.

Teaching

Course Information and Office Hours

Courses for Spring 2012

Linear and Discrete System Analysis
Energy Systems

Courses currently or previously taught

Algorithmic Processes for Electrical Engineering
Electrical Circuits I
Microprocessors
Linear and Discrete System Analysis
Feedback Control Systems
Power Electronics
Electrical and Computer Systems Senior Seminar
Power Electronics
Product Development & Entrepreneurship
Energy Systems

Teaching innovations

Developed a new curricular program at Penn State Behrend in electrical and computer engineering technology (ECET) (2006).

Developed an introductory course on electricity and electronics for primary and secondary school science teachers as part of ACT 48(2006)

Helped develop a course in Product Development & Entrepreneurship as part of a GE Foundation grant to foster interdisciplinary activities between the School of Engineering and the Sam and Irene Black School of Business. In this course, teams of business and engineering students take a product from ideation through the development of a completed business plan. Issues such as market analysis, specification development, engineering design, financial analysis and development of a marketing plan are discussed and included as part of the business plan. He has also spent considerable time and energy towards developing a new and integrated curricula for the Research and Economic Development Center which now houses both the School of Engineering and Engineering Technology and the Sam and Irene Black School of Business under the same roof. (2002 – present)

Developed a new course in power electronics, including lectures and laboratory exercises (1999)

Recipient of teaching awards

Nominated, Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows Excellence in Teaching Award, 2006.

Nominated, Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows Excellence in Teaching Award, 2000.

Research

Research projects completed

Weissbach, R., and Sonnenmeier, J., “Protocol for Determining Feasibility of Installing Dedicated Wind Energy in Pennsylvania Communities,” Center for Rural Pennsylvania, May 2008.

Weissbach, R. [Principal Investigator], Sonnenmeier, J., and Deets, L., Protocol for Determining Feasibility of Installing Dedicated Wind Energy in Pennsylvania Rural Communities, Center for Rural Pennsylvania, $49,966, November 2005-July 2007.

Howe, S. [Principal Investigator], Arion, D., Farris, J., Goodrich, J., Kussmaul, C., Lane, P., Lehman, M., Twitchell, C., Way, L., and Weissbach, R. [Investigator], Institutionalizing Entrepreneurship at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUI’s), National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA), $15,000, May 2005-June 2006.

Simoneau, R. [Principal Investigator], Fisher, K., Ford, R., Goodrich, J., Parente, D., and Weissbach, R., Toward an integrated multi-disciplinary engineering and business learning environment with emphasis on product realization processes, GE Foundation Grant, $175,687.00, January 2001-July 2004. [Principal Investigator for Team 2 that developed an interdisciplinary Business and Engineering course in Product Development and Entrepreneurship. This effort consumed approximately half of the available funds for the three faculty (Weissbach, Ford and Goodrich) working on this team.]

Weissbach, R. [Project Director], Ford, R., Fucik, O., Loker, D., and Zemcik, P., Implementation, Layout and Prototype Construction of a DSP-Based LVDT Signal Conditioner, LORD Corporation through the Penn State Electrical Design Center, $7,792, October 1999-May 2000.

Ford, R. [Project Director], Loker, D., and Weissbach, R., LVDT Signal Conditioner, LORD Corporation through the Penn State Electrical Design Center, $5,432, May-August 1999.

Recipient of research awards

Nominated, Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows Excellence in Research Award, 2006.

Publications

Articles published in refereed journals

Englund, R. B., and Weissbach, R. S., “Interdisciplinary laboratory exercises for the design and construction of an LVDT position measurement system,” Journal of Engineering Technology, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 8-12, 2002.

Weissbach, R. S., Karady, G. G., and Farmer, R. G., “A combined uninterruptible power supply and dynamic voltage compensator using a flywheel energy storage system,” IEEE Transactions in Power Delivery, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 265-270, 2001.

Ford, R. M., Weissbach, R. S., and Loker, D.R., “A novel DSP-based LVDT signal conditioner,” IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 768-773, 2001.

Weissbach, R. S., Karady, G. G., and Farmer, R. G., “Dynamic voltage compensation on distribution feeders using flywheel energy storage,” IEEE Transactions in Power Delivery, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 465-471, 1999.

Articles published in refereed proceedings

Weissbach, R., Rynders, M., and Loker, D., “Phase Lock Loop Control System Lab Development,” Proceedings, 2011 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, paper #1150, June 2011.

Loker, D., Weissbach, R., and Henry, A., “Conveyor Control System Project,” Proceedings, 2011 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, paper #1607, June 2011.

Weissbach, R., and Cheers, J., “Markov Based Estimation of Energy Storage Requirements Accounting for Seasonal Variations,” IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting, Paper #2010GM1014, Minneapolis, MN, July 2010.

Weissbach, R., Wang, W., Coulston, C., and Tang, M., “Relative Cost of Fault-Tolerant Transmission for Connecting Distributed Resources,” Proceedings, 2010 IEEE PES T&D Conference & Exposition, no. 2010TD0297, 5 pp., New Orleans, LA, April 2010.

Barote, L., Weissbach, R., Teodorescu, R., Marinescu, C., and Cirstea, M., “Stand-alone wind system with vanadium redox battery energy storage,” 11th International Conference on Optimization of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (OPTIM), vol. 2, no. 2G16, Brasov, Romania, May 2008.

Weissbach, R. S., Teodorescu, R. E., and Sonnenmeier, J. R., “Comparison of time-based probability methods for estimating energy storage requirements for an off-grid residence,” IEEE Conference on Global Sustainable Energy Infrastructure (IEEE Energy 2030), no. 1040, Atlanta, GA, November 2008.

Wang, W., Weissbach R., and Tang, M., “Predicting the learning performance of artificial intelligence systems using non-homogeneous Poisson process models,” [best paper award] Proceedings of the Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering Conference (ANNIE'07), 6 pp., 2007.

Weissbach, R., and Aunkst, I., “A microcontroller-based solar panel tracking system,” Proceedings of the 2007 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, Session 2433, Honolulu, HI, June 2007.

Weissbach, R., and Goodrich, J., “Developing positive teaming in a product development and entrepreneurship course using an off-campus weekend seminar,” Proceedings of the 2006 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, Session 2454, Chicago, IL, June 2006.

Kussmaul, C., Farris, J., Goodrich, J., Howe, S., and Weissbach, R., “Facilitating entrepreneurship education at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUI’s): Proposed functional and temporal models,” Proceedings of the 2006 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, Session 2254, Chicago, IL, June 2006.

Kussmaul, C., Farris, J., Goodrich, J., Howe, S., and Weissbach, R., “Institutionalizing entrepreneurship education at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUI’s): Proposed functional and temporal models,” Proceedings of the 2006 National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (CIIA) Annual conference, Portland, OR, March 2006.

Weissbach, R., and Kephart, L., “Hybrid renewable energy system analysis for off-grid Great Lakes residential housing,” Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, Session 2433, Portland, OR, June 2005.

Weissbach, R., Goodrich, J., and Ford, R., “Lessons learned and best practices in multidisciplinary teamwork and teaching of a small product realization course,” Proceedings of the American Society of Engineering Education Annual Meeting, Session 1654, Salt Lake City, UT, June 2004.

Weissbach, R., “Hardware experiments in feedback control systems using a geared DC motor,” Proceedings of the American Society of Engineering Education Annual Meeting, Session 1793, Salt Lake City, UT, June 2004.

Nitterrright, F., Roth, J., and Weissbach, R., “Broadening the scope of a material science course by experimentally testing the effects of electricity on metallic test specimen’s material properties,” Proceedings of the American Society of Engineering Education Annual Meeting, Session 3264, Salt Lake City, UT, June 2004.

Ford, R., Goodrich, J., and Weissbach, R., “A multidisciplinary business and engineering course in product development and entrepreneurship,” IEEE Frontiers in Education, Savannah, GA, November 2004.

Coulston, C., and Weissbach, R. S., “Routing transmission lines via Steiner Trees,” Proceedings of the 2003 IEEE PES General Meeting, paper PES2003-000391, 4 pp., July 2003.

Weissbach, R. S., and Meyers, T. S., “Honors thesis work in renewable energy for an undergraduate student,” Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, Session 2433, ID #2185, 9 pp., 2003.

Loker, D. R., and Weissbach, R. S., “Simulation of DTMF encoder and decoder using LabView,” Proceedings of the IASTED International Conference on Modeling and Simulation, pp. 362-366, 2002.

Fucik, O., Zemcik, P., Loker, D., Ford, R., and Weissbach, R., “A flexible DSP platform for LVDT signal conditioning,” Proceedings of the Electromotion 2001 Conference, pp. 183–188, 2001.

Gray, R., and Weissbach, R. S., “Industrial collaboration for an interdisciplinary elective in applied system design and remote diagnostics,” Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, Session 1347, ID #768, 7 pp., 2001.

Torres, K. M., Loker, D. R., and Weissbach, R. S., “Introducing 9-12 grade students to Electrical Engineering Technology through hands-on laboratory experiences,” Proceedings of the 31st ASEE/IEEE 2001 Frontiers in Education Conference, Session F2E, pp. P2E 12-F2E 16, 2001.

Weissbach, R. S., and Torres, K. M., “A noninverting buck-boost converter with reduced components using a microcontroller,” Proceedings of IEEE SoutheastCon 2001, pp. 79-84, 2001.

Gray, R., and Weissbach, R. S., “Integration of Satcom and GPS into a technology curriculum,” Proceedings of the 2000 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference, session 3549, ID #1910, 8 pp., 2000.

Weissbach, R. S., Loker, D. R., and Ford, R. M., “Test and comparison of LVDT signal conditioner performance,” IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference, pp. 1143-1146, 2000.

Ford, R. M., Weissbach, R. S., and Loker, D. R., “A DSP-based modified Costas receiver for LVDT position sensors,” IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference, pp. 1448-1452, 2000.

Weissbach, R. S., and Kuntz, R. A., “Teaching power electronics in a technology classroom,” Proceedings of the ASEE North Central Section Spring Conference, pp. 192-196, 1999.

Weissbach, R. S., Karady, G. G., and Farmer, R. G., “Model and simulation of a flywheel energy storage system at a utility substation using an induction machine,” Proceedings of the 60th American Power Conference, vol. 60, no. II, pp. 906-910, 1998.

Weissbach, R. S., Karady, G. G., and Farmer, R. G., “Series voltage compensation on distribution feeders using flywheel energy storage,” Proceedings of the 30th North American Power Symposium, pp. 175-182, 1998.

Service

Active participation in professional and learned societies

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Member at large, 2004-present.
Chair, Erie section, 2002-2003.
Vice-Chair, Erie section, 2001.

Service to public and private organizations

Member, Erie County Vo-Tech Advisory Committee, 2005-present.

Contributions to the University's programs to enhance equal opportunity and cultural diversity

21st Century Kids

Presented, “Doll House,” October 2010.

Math Options

Presented “The Home Security System,” May 2010.
Presented “The Home Security System,” with K. Muhonen, May 2007.

College Diversity Committee

Member, January-May 2005.

Service to students

Conducted the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam review on electrical engineering for Mechanical Engineering Technology students, March 2000-March 2002.

Clubs & Organizations:

Women in Engineering

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