International Neural Network Society Promotes Florida Tech Dean to Fellow

MELBOURNE, FLA.—Fred Ham, Florida Institute of Technology dean of the College of Engineering and Harris Professor of Electrical Engineering, was recently promoted to Fellow status by the International Neural Network Society (INNS) Board of Governors. The organization was established in 1987 by leading neural network scientists to advance the theoretical and computational understanding of the brain and to apply that knowledge to develop new and more effective forms of machine intelligence. To date, the premiere organization has more than 2,000 members worldwide.

The organization’s board of governors annually invites and selects about three internationally renowned neural network researchers, who are also past members of the Board, into the College of Fellows. The College selects one member to serve as its chair.

A member of INNS since 1990, Ham was elevated to Senior Member in 2008, served as the board’s secretary for two years and was president of the society 2007-2008.

Ham is also a Fellow of IEEE and SPIE, a member of Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Xi. Ham has published more than 100 technical articles, holds three patents, and authored the textbook, Principles of Neurocomputing for Science and Engineering, published by McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Before joining Florida Tech in 1988, Ham was a staff engineer at Harris Corp., working in digital communications and control system design for large space structures. Prior to Harris, he was a geophysicist with Shell Oil Co., processing marine seismic data.