Dr. Thomas Hemminger

Chair and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Office Location:

Burke 168

Phone:

(814) 898 6479

Email:

tlh5@psu.edu

Profile

Biography

Dr. Thomas Hemminger is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. He earned the B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1985 at Cleveland State University, the M.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1988 at Clarkson University, and the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1992 at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Hemminger was named chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in January 2012.

Dr. Hemminger was the recipient of the Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows Faculty Research Award in April 2006. He was recognized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE as the service award recipient for section chair in 2000 and the Outstanding Member Award from the Erie Engineering Societies Council, 1999. He was nominated for the Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows Faculty Research Award in Spring 1996 and Spring 1998. Dr. Hemminger was the second runner-up with Dr. Robert Farrell for the paper, Improving blow molding machine performance with neural networks, at ANNIE Ù97, Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering, November 1997 where they received the Novel Engineering Application Award for this work. He also received the Merl K. Miller Award for the outstanding COED journal paper on Teaching/Instructional Methods, Computers in Education, Division of American Society of Engineering Education in 1993. Dr. Hemminger is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE , Tau Beta Pi, and a past member of the American Society of Engineering Educators ASEE .

Prior to employment at Behrend, Dr. Hemminger was an instructor during 1985-1986 at Lorain County Community College, a teaching assistant from 1986-1989 at Clarkson University, a graduate teaching assistant in 1989 at Case Western Reserve University, and a graduate research assistant from 1990-1992 , also at Case Western.

Teaching

Courses for Spring 2012

Circuits and Devices

Signals and Systems

Courses taught

Introduction to Engineering Design

Digital Design Lab

Circuits and Devices

Electrical Circuit Analysis

Communications Systems I

Engineering Design and Graphics

Engineering Design and Graphics Lab

Signals and Systems

Communication Systems

Signal and Image Processing

Senior Design

Recipient of teaching awards

Nominated, Council of Fellows Excellence in Teaching Award, Spring 1996, Spring 1997, and Spring 2002.

Research

Completed Research Projects

Loker, D. [Principal Investigator], with T. Hemminger, R. Sprang, and J. Roth [Co-PI], and G. Schneggenburger [Project Advocate] "EOC/NAVSEA Radar Systems Project - Phase 1," Penn State Electro-Optic Center (EOC) & Naval Sea Systems Commend (NAVSEA), $45, 779, July-October 2010.

Gray, R., and Hemminger, T. L. [Co-Investigators], “Great Lakes Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) Systems Testing,” Pennsylvania Transportation Institute/Center for Navigation, Communication, and Information Systems (PTI/CNCIS), Center for eBusiness and Advanced IT (eBizITPA), $87,000, October 2004-2006.

Hemminger, T. L. [Principal Investigator], “Investigating alternative methods of testing diamond edged cutting blade integrity and reliability,” Diamond Products Inc., $96,296, July 2002-June 2004.

Hemminger, T. L. [Principal Investigator], Ford, R., and Ahmed, F., “Integration of digital signal processing into the undergraduate curriculum,” NSF Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement, $61,914, July 1, 1998-July 30, 2001.

Hemminger, T. L., and Ford, R. [Co-investigators], “Optical techniques for base inspection of plastic beverage container,” AGR International Corporation, $25,480, August 1999-February 2000.

Hemminger, T. L. [Principal Investigator], “High resolution measurement of liquid parisons by computerized axial tomography,” Blow Molding Consortium, $15,000, April 1996-April 1998.

Honors and Awards for Scholarship or Professional Activity

Nominated, Council of Fellows Faculty Outreach Award, 2007.

Recipient, Council of Fellows Faculty Research Award, April 2006.

Nominated, Council of Fellows Faculty Research Award, 1998.

Nominated, Council of Fellows Faculty Research Award, 1996.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Service award for section chair, 2000.

Outstanding Member Award, Erie Engineering Societies Council, 1999.
Nominated, Council of Fellows Faculty Research Award, Spring 1996 and Spring 1998.

Novel Engineering Application Award, Second Runner-Up, presented to Thomas Hemminger and Robert Farrell for the paper, “Improving blow molding machine performance with neural networks,” ANNIE ’97, Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering, November 1997.

Merl K. Miller Award for the outstanding COED Journal paper on Teaching/Instructional Methods, Computers in Education, Division of American Society of Engineering Education, 1993.

Publications

Articles published in refereed journals

Muhonen, K., Grund, E., Peachey, N., and Hemminger, T. L., “Alternative Method for Electrostatic Discharge Stress Testing of Individual System Components,” IET Science, Measurement, and Technology, vol. 4, iss. 4, pp.220-228, 2010. [Co-author]

Wang, W., and Hemminger, T. L., "A moving average non-homogeneous Poisson process reliability growth model to account for software with repair and system structures," IEEE Transactions on Reliability, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 411-421, 2007.

Wang, W., and Hemminger, T. L., “A user-oriented reliability modeling approach for Web systems,” International Journal of Web Engineering and Technology, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 288-306, 2007.

Wang, W., and Hemminger, T. L., “A moving average modeling approach for computing component-based software reliability growth trends,” INFOCOMP Journal of Computer Science, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 9-18, 2006.

Hemminger, T. L., “Antenna impedance matching with neural networks,” International Journal of Neural Systems, vol.15, no. 5, pp. 1-5, 2005.

Nelatury, S. R., Hemminger, T. L., and Sadiku, M. N. O., “An equivalent circuit model of a plasma core inductor,” IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 1100-1105, 2005.

Hemminger, T. L., Coulston, C., and Pomalaza-Raez, C., “Routing strategies for multicast packet radio networks,” International Journal of Smart Engineering System Design, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 215-223, 2002.

Hemminger, T. L. [invited paper], “Using neural networks and computerized tomography to measure wall thickness of industrial plastics,” International Journal of Smart Engineering System Design, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 273-282, 2000.

Hemminger, T. L., and Farrell, R. E., “High resolution measurement of translucent plastic wall thicknesses by computerized tomography and neural networks,” International Journal of Neural Systems, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 317-324, 1997.

Hemminger, T. L., and Pomalaza-Raez, C. A., “Determination of dependent and independent communication paths using neural networks,” International Journal of Neural Systems, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 247-255, 1996.

Hemminger, T. L., and Pomalaza-Raez, C. A., “Using neural networks to solve the multicast routing problem in packet radio networks,” International Journal of Neural Systems, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 617-626, 1996.

Hemminger, T. L., and Pomalaza-Raez, C. A., “Rotation and scale independent pattern recognition through optimization,” Pattern Recognition Journal, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 487-495, 1996.

Hemminger, T. L., and Pao, Y-H., “Detection and classification of underwater acoustic transients using neural networks,” Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Transactions on Neural Networks, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 712-718, 1994.

Hemminger, T. L., “An illustration of convolution through animation,” Computers in Education Journal, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 65-69, 1993.

Hemminger, T. L., and Pomalaza-Raez, C. A., “Polygonal Representation: A maximum likelihood approach,” Computer Vision, Graphics, and Image Processing, vol. 52, pp. 239-247, 1990.

Articles published in refereed proceedings

Hemminger, T. L., Loker, D. R., and He, S., “A microcontroller-based neural network for DTMF decoding,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering (ANNIE), vol. 17, pp. 555-560, November 2007.

Loker, D., and Hemminger, T. L., “Simulation of neural network DTMF decoder”, IASTED International Conference on Modelling and Simulation, Montreal, Canada, May 2007.

Loker, D. R., and Hemminger, T. L., “A neural network based DTMF decoder,” Proceedings of the Artificial Neural Network in Engineering Conference (ANNIE 2006), vol. 16, pp. 335-340, November 2006.

Hemminger, T. L., Loker, D. R., and Pomalaza-Raez, C. A., “A neural method for identifying transmission source locations,” Proceedings of the 17th Annual IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communication (PIMRC’06), Session TA4-4, (published on CD, DOI: 10.1109/PIMRC.2006. 254049), 5 pp., 2006.

Hemminger, T. L., “Understanding transmission line impedance matching with neural networks and PowerPoint,” Frontiers in Education, Indianapolis, IN, November 2005.

Hemminger, T. L. and Wang, W., “Reliability modeling of software using history dependent Markov models,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering, St. Louis, MO, November 2005.

Wang, W., and Hemminger, T. L., “Event driven reliability modeling for distributed systems,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering, St. Louis, MO, November 2005.

Hemminger, T. L., Loker, D. L., and Pomalaza-Raez, C.A., “A new method to determine transmitter localization using neural networks,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering, St. Louis, MO, November 2005.

Coulston, C., Hemminger, T. L., Scharf, S., Vitolo, T. M., “Modeling the local bending reflex of the leech,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering (ANNIE), pp. 803-808, 2004.

Gray, R., and Hemminger, T. L., “A hands-on navigation technology workshop to support the Math Options for girls program,” 60th Annual Institute of Navigation Conference, Dayton, OH, 7 pp., 2004.

Hemminger, T. L., “A neural control method for impedance matching of antenna systems,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering (ANNIE), pp. 553-558, 2003.

Hemminger, T. L., and Ford, R. M., “Digital signal processing in the undergraduate curriculum,” American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition, 14 pp., 2002.

Hemminger, T. L., and Gray, R., “A neural-based method of determining aircraft landing paths from DTED,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering (ANNIE), pp. 995-1000, 2002.

Hemminger, T. L., “Transmission line impedance matching with neural networks,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering (ANNIE), pp. 877-882, 2002.

Pomalaza-Raez, C. A., and Hemminger, T. L., “A unified approach to dynamic TDMA slot assignment and to distributed routing for multi-hop packet radio networks,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering (ANNIE), pp. 975-980, 2002.

Gray, R., and Hemminger, T. L., “Validating digital terrain elevation with neural networks,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering (ANNIE), pp. 673-678, 2001.

Hemminger, T. L., and Lasher, W. C., “Introduction of design concepts in the freshman year,” ASEE 1999 North Central Section Conference, Erie, PA, 1999.

Hemminger, T. L., “Enhanced Dimensional Analysis of Semi-Liquid Plastics Using Neural Networks,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering, St. Louis, MO, pp. 791-796, 1998.

Hemminger, T. L., “Signal estimation with neural networks for multipath mobile communications,” IEEE International Conference on Neural Networks, Houston, TX, pp. 138-141, 1997.

Hemminger, T. L., and Farrell, R. E., “Improving Blow Molding Machine Performance With Neural Networks,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering (ANNIE), St. Louis, MO, pp. 861-866, 1997.

Hemminger, T. L., and Pomalaza-Raez, C. A., “Two novel approaches for determining the minimum number of transmissions in multicast packet radio networks,” IEEE Fourth International Symposium on Spread Spectrum Techniques & Applications, Mainz, Germany, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 317-324, 1996. [Invited paper]

Hemminger, T. L., and Pomalaza-Raez, C.A., “A neural network solution to the multicast packet radio transmission problem,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering (ANNIE), St. Louis, MO, pp. 965-970, 1996.

Hemminger, T. L., Pomalaza-Raez, C. A., and Whitehill, E., “Algorithms for routing in multicast packet radio networks,” Tactical Communications Conference, Fort Wayne, IN, pp. 243-249, 1996.

Hemminger, T. L., and Pomalaza-Raez, C. A., “Determining the minimum number of transmissions in multicast packet radio networks,” IEEE International Conference on Neural Networks, Washington, D.C., vol. 1, pp. 571-576, 1996.

Hemminger, T. L., and Pomalaza-Raez, C. A., “Determining the number of dependent and independent paths through packet radio networks using a Hopfield net,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering (ANNIE), St. Louis, MO, vol. 5, pp. 989-994, 1995.

Hemminger, T. L., Holliday-Darr, K., Young, J., Lasher, W., Evans, E., Beaumont, J., Ford, R., and Khalilollahi, A., “An innovative approach to incorporating design into the freshman year,” 1995 Annual ASEE Conference Proceedings, Anaheim, CA, pp. 2055-2059, 1995.

Hemminger, T. L., and Pomalaza-Raez, C. A., “Using a Hopfield network for rotation and scale independent pattern recognition,” Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers World Congress on Computational Intelligence, Orlando, FL, vol. 5, pp. 3003-3008, 1994.

Hemminger, T. L., “Acoustic transient identification using neural networks,” Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering (ANNIE), St. Louis, MO, pp. 769-774, 1993.

Pao, Y-H., and Hemminger, T. L., “Determination of source position in multipath environments using neural networks,” 1992 International Conference on Communications Technology, Tsinghua Campus, Beijing, China, pp. 142-147, 1992.

Hemminger, T. L., and Pao, Y-H., “A real-time neural-net computing approach to the detection and classification of underwater acoustic transients,” The Fifth Conference on Neural Networks and Parallel Distributed Processing, Indiana University/Purdue University, Fort Wayne, IN, pp. 193-200, 1992.

Articles published in non-refereed proceedings

Adams, D. J., Clary, S., Pao, Y-H., Hemminger, T. L., and Yip, P. C., “An efficient hierarchical neural network architecture for discriminating time-varying underwater signals,” Proceedings of the Government Neural Network Applications Workshop, pp. 7-11, 1992. (export-controlled paper)

Pao, Y-H., and Hemminger, T. L., “Trains of transients: What to expect and how to measure similarity,” 14th International Congress on Acoustics at the Invited Structured Session on Underwater Sound Signal Processing, Beijing, China, pp. 83-86, 1992.

Service

Organizing conferences, service on conference committees

American Society of Engineering Educators (ASEE)

Session Chair, North Central Section Conference, Erie, PA, April 9, 1999.

Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering (ANNIE)

Session Chair, 1996, 1998, 2002, and 2009.

Active participation in professional and learned societies

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

Arranged tour for forty people, including 20 Behrend students, of the NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH, March 31, 2006.
Chair, October 2005-present.
Vice-Chair, October 2004-2005.
Coordinated the Region 2 student research paper, hardware competition, and leadership conference held at Penn State Erie. Acquired $1,500 from the EESC and local IEEE to help sponsor the event. Total budget approximately $20,000, primarily from Region 2, April 16-17, 1999.
Chair, Erie Chapter, 1998-2000.
Organized sponsored V.I.P. tour of the Perry Nuclear Power Plant, April 26, 1997.
Organized sponsored tour of Behrend plastics center, March 24, 1997.
Organized student paper contest, March 19, 1997.
Organized student paper contests at Behrend College, 1996-present.
Vice-President, Erie Chapter, Spring 1996-1997.
Judge, student paper contest at Gannon University, Erie, PA, March 13, 1996.
Student Branch Counselor, 9/1995-present.

Service to public and private organizations

Judge, Gannon University Student Paper Competition, Spring 2005 and Spring 2006.

United Way volunteer, 2003.

Service to educational institutions

College for Kids, Penn State Behrend, Division of Student Affairs

Presented, "Op-Amp Camp: Introduction to Electronics," each summer, 2006-2009.

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

Presented two programs, 21st Century Kids, June 21, 2006.

Presenter, Women in Engineering, September 2006.

Participated, Minority College Experience/Women in Science and Engineering (MCE/WISE), 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Presented GPS demonstrations, Math Options, 2003-present.

Service to student organizations

Tau Beta Nu, co-organizer and advisor, 2008-present.
Attended, Cleveland State Conference, April 23-24, 2004.
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Student Section
Branch counselor, September 1995-present.
Organized, Behrend College, IEEE Student Paper Competition, Logan House, March 16, 2005. First place winner Andrew Sobotka traveled to Rowan University to compete in the Region II event.
Organized the Behrend College IEEE Student Paper Competition, Logan House, March 17, 2004. First place winners, Troy Tancraitor and Mohammed Hoque, traveled to Cleveland State University to compete in the Region II event.
Organized student paper competition, March 5, 2003.
Acquired outside funding for the student robot competition at Penn State Harrisburg, totaling approximately $1000, 2000.
Organized a satellite video conference through NASA and PBS discussing the future of the space station and current research opportunities at NASA, April 11, 1996.
Student Branch Counselor, 1995-present.
Active in fund raising and recruitment, 1995-present.
Presented, “Introduction to image recognition,” October 1993.
Presented, “Multipath target localization using neural networks,” April 1993.
Presented, “Neural computing,” October 1992.

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