Fil Glanz Retires

by W.T. Miller

Professor Filson H. Glanz retired from the full time faculty of the ECE Department last fall after devoting more than thirty years of his career to teaching electrical engineering at UNH. Without question Fil had a wide impact on the ECE Department. His concern for the undergraduate program often led him to be involved in the introductory electrical engineering courses. At the same time, his expertise in digital signal processing and general engineering mathematics frequently led him to an involvement in graduate level courses. Fil was well known and respected as an educator across the UNH campus, and was well liked by ECE students throughout his career. In fact, in 1980 he was selected over all of the UNH faculty campus-wide for the first UNH Distinguished Teaching Award.

Fil's professional activities have generally centered on digital signal processing and the dynamics of discrete time systems, in a variety of application domains: the study of upper atmospheric winds using meteor trail radar, the mathematical modeling of coniferous forests, the properties of nonuniform sampling systems, and most recently, the mathematics of on-line learning and adaptation applied to the computer control of robots.

Of course Fil has always been well known on campus for his many other interests as well, which have little to do with electrical engineering. If a volleyball game is brewing somewhere on campus, Fil is likely to be found nearby, if not in the heat of battle. He is an avid hiker and has made the most of the nearby White Mountains in all seasons of the year. He is also well known as an enthusiastic follower of the arts, being particularly fond of dance and jazz music. Finally, Fil has always been willing and able to jump into a political debate, generally defending the liberal view against the more conservative yankees on campus (such as Clark and Pokoski).

While Fil has formally retired from the teaching faculty, he hasn't gone far. He retains his office in Morse Hall and remains active supervising student projects and research and pursuing his own professional activities. In keeping with his varied interests, he has become an active participant in the UNH activities in the area of sustainable engineering. Of course you can also find him hiking in the mountains, tap dancing in Portsmouth, or, no doubt, playing volleyball anywhere there is a game. Fil's electronic mail address at UNH is filson.glanz@unh.edu. Drop him a line, I'm sure he would like to hear from alumni and friends.