Research Activities and Aspirations

Michael Carter:

During the fourteen years I’ve been at UNH, my research interests have fluctuated between several different topic areas including neural networks, computational neuroscience, and computer networks. My underlying motivation in both the neural network and computational neuroscience efforts is the desire to understand the fundamental processes that enable learning and complex task performance in human and artificial neural systems. A unifying thread in this research has been my interest in the architectural and algorithmic features of neural systems that provide for robust learning and task performance, i.e. the maintenance of some capability, perhaps degraded, for learning and task performance when the neural system has suffered damage or anomalous development.

I’ve also enjoyed a loose affiliation with the UNH InterOperability Laboratory beginning around 1989. My interest in computer networks stems from my background in communication systems and signal processing, and indeed most of the problems that my IOL students have tackled involve challenges in signaling, or in observing and measuring network performance, as both the complexity and speed of network protocols has increased.

As I grow older, my concern for the well-being of future generations is shaping my research interests in ways I never envisioned. I’ve read much on sustainability, been involved in an on-going effort to establish a Sustainability Learning Center at a nearby university-owned farm, and even started a monograph on Robust Societies. As world oil supplies become scarce in the 2040-2050 timeframe, the need to reinvent communities that are sustainable on the basis of local and regional resources is evident. The engineering profession will play a vital, indeed essential, role in this transition. My research interests in this realm are not so much focused on electrical and computer engineering topics as on the broader question of how technology can be re-shaped to permit vibrant small communities to exist without easy access to long-distance transportation or exotic resources from remote corners of the globe. My next sabbatical leave in 2002-2003 will be devoted to further study of the problems attendant to the conversion of the developed world to a "fossil fuel-less" society.

Kent Chamberlin:

I am continuing my research in the electromagnetics area, with my most recent efforts focus on the prediction of signal strength in the presence of irregular terrain.  I am working with Tom Miller on the Department of Justice contract to model coverage areas for digital wireless communications systems.

I just returned from Portugal, where I served out a Fulbright fellowship at the University of Aveiro.  While I was there, I worked with students and faculty on a wide range of issues relating to electromagnetics.  These issues ranged from looking at propagation on small semiconductor structures to radiation from nonlinear components. I also worked extensively with Finite Difference, Time Domain (FDTD) modeling of field behavior. I gained a lot of new insights from this experience, and I hope that they will lead to follow-on collaboration and funded research.

I also continue to be active in computer mediated learning.  Before I left for Portugal, I directed the Far View distance education program at UNH, and I will be doing so again this year.  I worked in distance education in Portugal as well, as they have several ongoing programs there.  I see computer mediated learning as an important tool in driving down the cost of higher education while at the same time improving the quality and efficiency of the learning process.

Filson Glanz:

I am working intermittently on various sustainability projects and ideas, on MATLAB demos to help understand transformation of random variables (changes in the works), developing a unified theory of small signal analysis related to ideas learned in calculus and visually oriented, and still thinking about how a simple brain can be simulated.

Andrew Kun:

I am currently a member of the Project54 development team. Within this effort I take part in system development issues as well as speech recognition and processing issues. Leveraging my experience in the Project54 effort I plan to become involved in speech recognition and speech processing research. I have recently submitted a proposal to the NSF in cooperation with a faculty member from the Oregon Graduate Institute in which we propose to improve the usability of a speech recognition system by allowing interruptions of the conversation both by the user and by the computer.

My dissertation work was done in the area of learning systems. Specifically, I worked on the UNH biped robot, which uses neural networks to improve its ability to walk. I am interested in extending my work on biped robot walking to include vision. I also intend to work on applications of neural networks in training robots for assembly tasks in space

John LaCourse:

BioTherapeatics Devices (BioT). The UNH Biological Engineering Laboratory and BioTherapuetic Devices, LLC of Portsmouth, NH continue to develop a device to measure the loss of peripheral sensitivity in the long finger (innervated by the median nerve) as a detection measure for work related peripheral neuropathies. We have continuous funding from the IRC and expect to continue working under a traditional grant systems such as SBIRs. I hold a patent in this area.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Other Related Nerve Disorders. I continue to look for ways to determine non-invasively the rise in Carpal Tunnel Pressure during physical work and to understand and control or eliminate this disease process. As part of this effort I have filed several invention disclosures to the VPR&PS. They are:

• Improvements to the Upper Extremity Apparatus, Method, and System for Detecting Changes in Induced Vibrations on Body Parts
• The LaCourse Synovial Tissue Reducer
• A Device to Assess Alcoholic Neuropathy
• Peak Force Measurement Device for Prehensile Grip
• A System to Predict the On-set of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• An Apparatus, Method, and System to Measure the Onset and Progression of Diabetic Neuropathy
• A System to Measure the Progression of Leprosy
• A System to Measure Temporary Neuropathy During Preganancy

Non-Lethal Weapons. As an outgrowth of my work of trying to elucidate the mechanisms of peripheral neuropathies I have become interested in working with the non-lethal weapons center to develop measurement systems from induced temporary incapacitation due to over stimulation of certain pain nerve systems.

Other Invention Disclosures. I have also submitted the following Invention Disclosures:

• A System to Predict Changes in the Electrical Characteristics of Tissue During Electrosurgery
• Vibration Mediated Muscle Tone Generator and Analysis System

Dr. Stuart Selikowitz of the VA Medical Center in White River Junction, Vermont and I continue to study the effects of electrosurgery and more effective and safe methods for trans-urethral resection. We have recently become involved in determining urine flow from an ultrasonic basis. As an outgrowth of this effort I have become recognized as an expert in litigation for patent infringement.

Professors' LaCourse, Croce (Kinesiology), Neil Vroman (Kinesiology), and Alice Seidel (Occupational Therapy) continue to work with the State on the Vocational Rehabilitation Project (since 1988) providing Rehabilitation Engineering Consultation to DVR counselors. As an outgrowth of this effort, I have continuously provided free consultation services to UNH's Access Office and Affirmative Action Office.

Ergonomic Training. I continue to work with Roy Matheson and Associates providing Ergonomic Workshops and Seminars around the country and the world. These activities keep me in touch with industrial needs and will provide the basis for introducing an Ergonomics Minor within the college.

UNH Ergonomic Conference. This is the 11^th year of our annual ergonomics conference. It has been quite successful. This year we had over 80 participants from all over New England.

Transference. I have increased my activities in attempting to model human life force as in Qui. My present thrust is modeling acupuncture sticks as antennas. In this same area I have convened a group of students to study transference or, better yet, long distance effect via E&M waves.

Paul Nahin:

I have just submitted the new edition of my 1988 IEEE Press book OLIVER HEAVISIDE: SAGE IN SOLITUDE, which will be published by The Johns Hopkins University Press later this year. I am now working on completing the manuscript for WHEN LEAST IS BEST (a history of optimization theory), to be published by Princeton University Press in 2002. The second editions of my books TIME MACHINES and THE SCIENCE OF RADIO have just been published by Springer-Verlag/New York.