Dr. Ralph Ford is the director of the School of Engineering at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. He obtained his B.S. degree from Clarkson University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Arizona, all in electrical engineering. He was a senior associate engineer at IBM Microlectronics Division in East Fishkill, NY from 1989-1991. He joined the faculty at Penn State Behrend in 1994 and then served as chair of the electrical and computer engineering for eight years. During this period, the program expanded in terms of academic offerings and student enrollment, and added two new degree programs in computer and software engineering.
He was selected as director of the Penn State Behrend School of Engineering in 2005. He has led efforts to create a new major in Interdisciplinary Business and Engineering with the Sam and Irene Black School of Business, added new research centers, and increased student enrollments. The School of Engineering has increased its national visibility as reflected in its ranking as one of the top 50 undergraduate engineering schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.
Dr. Ford was a Fulbright Scholar to the Czech Republic in 2005, where he taught and conducted research at Brno University of Technology. He is co-author of the book, Design for Electrical and Computer Engineers: Theory, Concepts, and Practice (by Ford and Coulston, McGraw-HillI). In 2008 he was became Director-Elect of Region 2 of IEEE, the largest professional technical society in the world. Dr. Ford's research and teaching interests are in digital signal processing, digital image processing, computer vision, and engineering design.
Career Highlights
IEEE Region 2 Director-Elect, 2008-.
Director and Professor, School of Engineering, 2005- .
Fulbright Scholar at Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic, 2005.
Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering, 1996-2004
Associate Professor, Penn State Behrend, 2000-2005.
Assistant Professor, Penn State Behrend, 1994-2000.
Graduate Research Associate, University of Arizona, 1991-1994.
Associate/Senior Associate Engineer, IBM Microelectronics Division, East Fishkill, NY, 1990-1991.
Summer Research Assistant, Brookhaven National Lab, 1986.
Software Engineering Intern, IBM Data Systems Division, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1985.
