While pursuing his doctorate degree at Vanderbilt University,
Dr. Tom Hartley’s advisor told him, “Anyone can cover
the material; a good teacher uncovers it.” For the past 20
years, Dr. Hartley, professor of electrical and computer engineering,
has been doing just that at The University of Akron.
Dr. Hartley says he tries to maintain a sense of dynamics to
pique students’ interests in the classroom by bringing “as
much stuff that explodes as possible and other assorted things
made from junk.” University students appreciate his unique
classroom style and have bestowed upon him the 2004 Outstanding
Teacher Award, an honor that touches him greatly.
“It is really special to me because it comes from the
students,” he said. “I meet most of the students
in the college through Basic EE. We really have great students
here.”
Dr. Hartley earned his bachelor of science degree in electrical
engineering and his bachelor of arts degree in physics in 1980
from Ohio Northern University. He earned his master’s degree
in physics in 1982 and doctorate degree in electrical engineering
in 1984, both from Vanderbilt University.
He said he was drawn to teaching because of the freedom it provided;
however, fate brought him to The University of Akron.
“My wife is a pastor in the East Ohio Conference of the
United Methodist Church,” he said. “Twenty years
ago, we looked at a map of the East Ohio Conference and Akron
was in the middle of most of the churches, and it had a university.
This was the only place I applied.”
So, with a newly earned doctorate degree in hand, Dr. Hartley
joined The University of Akron as an assistant professor. He
was promoted in 1988 to associate professor and again in 1994
to professor.
Throughout the years, he has taught a variety of undergraduate-
and graduate-level courses, primarily in basic electrical engineering
and system simulation. He has advised or co-advised 11 doctorate
students, 14 master’s candidates and nine senior projects.
Dr. Hartley has been frequently honored by the University and
his engineering peers. He has received the University of Akron
Outstanding Achievement Award in 1987 and 1989, and was recognized
by the American Control Conference in Boston for Outstanding
Session Paper in 1991. In 1990, Dr. Hartley was a finalist for
the Eta Kappa Nu Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer. That
same year, he received the University’s prestigious Louis
A. Hill Award. In 2001, Dr. Hartley received a NASA Tech Brief
Award for “The Initialized Fractional Calculus.”
As a researcher, Dr. Hartley’s interests lie within modeling,
simulation, and control of physical systems. He has studied fractional
order systems, spatially distributed systems, internal flow propulsion
systems, electrochemical systems, as well as nonlinear system
behavior, control of chaos, digital simulation methods, analog
simulation methods, and educational apparatus.
During the past four years, Dr. Hartley has been conducting
research for NASA on battery modeling, most recently designing
charging strategies to extend the cycle life of the International
Space Station batteries.
In addition to his academic responsibilities, Dr. Hartley is
a member of several professional groups, including IEEE, AIAA,
ASME, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Sigma
Xi, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, Sigma Pi Sigma, the Ohio Historical
Society, and conducts reviews for IEEE Transactions on Industrial
Electronics, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, IEEE Transactions
on Circuits and Systems, the International Journal on Computer
Simulation, and the Journal of Nonlinear Dynamics. He is a Fellow
of the Ohio Academy of Science, once serving on the editorial
board for the group.
With all of his activities on campus, Dr. Hartley still finds
time to give to his community. He is an assistant scoutmaster
in Mogadore, where he embarks on monthly camping trips and a
two-week high adventure in the summer. In addition, he does mission
work, spending up to two weeks of the summer in Tennessee working
with youth and other adults doing major home repairs. He also
speaks at local schools and libraries on the wonders of electricity
and magnetism.
If that weren’t enough, Dr. Hartley plays on two softball
leagues and enjoys swimming, biking and snowboarding. When he
isn’t in the “field,” Dr. Hartley can be found
in the football stands, cheering on his Mogadore Wildcats.
Dr. Hartley and his wife of 23 years, Karen, have one son, John,
a sophomore at Mogadore High School.
