Moshe Kam
Encyclopedia
Moshe Kam is an Israeli American
engineering educator serving at present as the Robert G. Quinn Professor and Department Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Drexel University
. In 2011 he serves concurrently as the 49th President and CEO of IEEE
. Earlier he was IEEE
’s Vice President for Educational Activities (2005–2007) and IEEE’s Representative Director to the accreditation body ABET
. Kam is known for his studies of decision fusion and distributed detection
, which focus on computationally feasible fusion rules for multi-sensor systems.
, Israel
. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering
in 1976 from Tel Aviv University
. Between 1976 and 1983 he served in the Israel Defense Forces
. In 1983 he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, United States
. He received a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1985 and a Doctorate degree in 1987, both from Drexel University
.
Kam worked as Professor
of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Drexel University
since 1986. His research interests include detection and estimation
, decision fusion and distributed detection
, robot navigation
and data mining
. He has authored over 150 journal and conference papers in these areas. He is an active IEEE volunteer, having served as Chair of the IEEE Philadelphia Section, Chair of the IEEE Region 2 Committee, Member of the IEEE Board of Directors, Chair of the IEEE Audit Committee, Vice President for Educational Activities, and current President.
and the New York Hall of Science
); and internationalization of the IEEE Teacher In-Service Program. TryEngineering.org is a portal for pre-university students, their parents, teachers and school counselors, which provides information about all branches of engineering, technology and computing, and about all available accredited programs for undergraduate and graduate study in these disciplines. The Teacher In-Service Program (TISP) trains IEEE volunteers to work with pre-university teachers in order to integrate engineering and engineering design in the pre-university curriculum. Since 2003 TISP has expanded from being exclusively a US-based program to Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Malaysia, Peru, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and South Africa.
In the area of academic accreditation, he established accreditation evaluator training program for the Peruvian accreditation body ICACIT, and assisted in the creation of an accrediting body for engineering and technology in the Caribbean, CACET. He has also developed ties between IEEE and the China Association for Science and Technology
, and created the informational portal on accreditation of academic programs in engineering, technology, and computing, Accreditation.org
Israeli American
Israeli Americans are Americans of Israeli descent. According to the 2000 census, there were 106,839 people of Israeli ancestry in the United States.- Demographics :...
engineering educator serving at present as the Robert G. Quinn Professor and Department Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Drexel University
Drexel University
Drexel University is a private research university with the main campus located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a noted financier and philanthropist. Drexel offers 70 full-time undergraduate programs and accelerated degrees...
. In 2011 he serves concurrently as the 49th President and CEO of IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...
. Earlier he was IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...
’s Vice President for Educational Activities (2005–2007) and IEEE’s Representative Director to the accreditation body ABET
Abet
Abet may refer to:* Abet Guidaben , former Philippine Basketball Association basketball player* ABET, Inc., a non-profit organization that accredits higher education programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology....
. Kam is known for his studies of decision fusion and distributed detection
Data fusion
Data fusion, is generally defined as the use of techniques that combine data from multiple sources and gather that information into discrete, actionable items in order to achieve inferences, which will be more efficient and narrowly tailored than if they were achieved by means of disparate...
, which focus on computationally feasible fusion rules for multi-sensor systems.
Biography
Kam was born in 1955 and grew up in Tel AvivTel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
in 1976 from Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
. Between 1976 and 1983 he served in the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
. In 1983 he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He received a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1985 and a Doctorate degree in 1987, both from Drexel University
Drexel University
Drexel University is a private research university with the main campus located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a noted financier and philanthropist. Drexel offers 70 full-time undergraduate programs and accelerated degrees...
.
Kam worked as Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Drexel University
Drexel University
Drexel University is a private research university with the main campus located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a noted financier and philanthropist. Drexel offers 70 full-time undergraduate programs and accelerated degrees...
since 1986. His research interests include detection and estimation
Estimation theory
Estimation theory is a branch of statistics and signal processing that deals with estimating the values of parameters based on measured/empirical data that has a random component. The parameters describe an underlying physical setting in such a way that their value affects the distribution of the...
, decision fusion and distributed detection
Data fusion
Data fusion, is generally defined as the use of techniques that combine data from multiple sources and gather that information into discrete, actionable items in order to achieve inferences, which will be more efficient and narrowly tailored than if they were achieved by means of disparate...
, robot navigation
Robotic mapping
Robotic mapping is related to cartography. The goal for an autonomous robot to be able to construct a map or floor plan and to localize itself in it...
and data mining
Data mining
Data mining , a relatively young and interdisciplinary field of computer science is the process of discovering new patterns from large data sets involving methods at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics and database systems...
. He has authored over 150 journal and conference papers in these areas. He is an active IEEE volunteer, having served as Chair of the IEEE Philadelphia Section, Chair of the IEEE Region 2 Committee, Member of the IEEE Board of Directors, Chair of the IEEE Audit Committee, Vice President for Educational Activities, and current President.
Activities in Pre-University Education and Academic Accreditation
In late 2004 Kam was elected IEEE Vice President for Educational Activities, having served earlier as Director of IEEE Region 2 (Eastern USA). He served as Vice President for three years during which IEEE expanded greatly its activities in pre-university engineering education and in accreditation of academic programs. The major pre-university programs established during his tenure were the engineering education portal TryEngineering.org (a joint project of IEEE, IBMIBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
and the New York Hall of Science
New York Hall of Science
The New York Hall of Science occupies one of the few remaining structures of the 1964 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadow-Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City. Today, it stands as New York City's only hands-on science and technology center...
); and internationalization of the IEEE Teacher In-Service Program. TryEngineering.org is a portal for pre-university students, their parents, teachers and school counselors, which provides information about all branches of engineering, technology and computing, and about all available accredited programs for undergraduate and graduate study in these disciplines. The Teacher In-Service Program (TISP) trains IEEE volunteers to work with pre-university teachers in order to integrate engineering and engineering design in the pre-university curriculum. Since 2003 TISP has expanded from being exclusively a US-based program to Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Malaysia, Peru, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and South Africa.
In the area of academic accreditation, he established accreditation evaluator training program for the Peruvian accreditation body ICACIT, and assisted in the creation of an accrediting body for engineering and technology in the Caribbean, CACET. He has also developed ties between IEEE and the China Association for Science and Technology
China Association for Science and Technology
The China Association for Science and Technology is a non-profit, non-governmental organization of Chinese scientists and engineers, which is composed of 167 national professional societies and hundreds of local branches at various levels....
, and created the informational portal on accreditation of academic programs in engineering, technology, and computing, Accreditation.org
Election to the Presidency of IEEE
Kam was candidate for the office IEEE President-Elect In 2008 but lost to Pedro Ray. In 2009 he was elected to that position (the other candidates in the 2009 elections were Joseph Lillie and J. Roberto Boisson de Marca). He serves as President and CEO of IEEE in 2011. His election platform emphasizes expansion of IEEE to new technical areas (especially the intersection between Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science and the Life Sciences); providing effective services to practicing engineers; and increasing the value of IEEE membership.Most Cited Technical Papers
- 1997, “Sensor Fusion for Mobile Robot Navigation” (1997, Proceedings of the IEEE), with Xiaoxun Zhu and Paul Kalata.
- 1997, "Decision Fusion and Supervisor Synthesis in Decentralized Discrete-Event Systems," (1997, American Control Conference), with J. Prosser and H. Kwatny.
- 2002, “Neural Network Architectures for Control” (2002, IEEE Control Systems Magazine), with Allon Guez and James Eilbert.
Essays on the State of the Profession
- 2005, “Why won’t Jane go to Engineering School” (2005, The Institute, IEEE)
- 2006, “Will ABET Survive to the Year 2032?” (2006, The Interface, IEEE & ASEE)
- 2007, “What Should Be the First Professional Degree in Engineering?” (2005, The Institute, IEEE), with A. Peskin.
External links
- ECE Department at Drexel University
- Official IEEE website
- www.tryengineering.org - resource for students age 8-18, and their parents, teachers, and guidance counselors.
- www.accreditation.org - resource on accreditation of academic programs in Engineering, Engineering Technology, and Computing.