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BIOGRAPHY IN A NUTSHELL |
Research and Pubs Teaching Service HOME
Me at the South Pole Station in Antarctica. Somehow, I just always look cold.
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A little bit more about my background. I have been married for nearly twenty-five years to Philip Oakley. We met when we were both working together at the South Pole Station in Antarctica. We have two daughters as well as two adopted sons who are originally from Kosovo. I started studying engineering much later than many engineering students, because my original intention had been to become a linguist. I enlisted in the U.S. Army right after high school and spent a year studying Russian at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey California. The Army eventually sent me to the University of Washington, where I received my first degree–a B.A. in Slavic Languages and Literature. Eventually, I served four years in Germany as a Signal Officer, and rose to become a Captain. After my commitment ended, I decided to leave the Army and study engineering so that I could better understand the communications equipment I had been working with. | |||||
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I also spent a season as the radio operator at the South Pole Station in Antarctica, where Philip and I met. (We were married as soon as we got ‘off the ice,’ in New Zealand.) With the electrical engineering degree in hand I settled down and spent three years working as a instrumentation and controls engineer at a laser research and development firm near Seattle. We moved to the Detroit area in 1989. I worked for Ford briefly, and then began doing consulting and attending Oakland University part time while our children were Oakley offspring and relatives in the small. I received a M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1995, and a Ph.D. in ancient city of Prizren, Kosovo, June, 2002. Systems Engineering in 1998. I was hired after my graduation to continue on as a professor at Oakland University.
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On the Soviet trawler 'Tigil,' Bering Sea, summer of 1983. I look cold. |
Philip and I at the Salt Works at Lake Grassmere, Marlborough, New Zealand, right after our marriage. | ||||
EDUCATION
 Ph.D. in Systems Engineering at Oakland University. GPA 3.96/4.0.
Dissertation entitled “Towards Noninvasive Pressure Sensing: The Effect of
Absolute Hydrostatic Pressure on Photoacoustic Signals in Solutions.” | | | Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Oakland University, 1995. GPA 3.96/4.0. | | Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, 1986. GPA 3.66/4.0. | | Bachelor of Arts in Slavic Languages and Literature, University of Washington, l977. GPA 3.62/4.0. | | Various courses on electromagnetic interference taught by Don White and Consultants of Interference Control Technologies. Other courses through Ford Motor Company on Statistical Process Control, Root Cause Analysis and Audio Systems Engineering. | | NSF Optics Short Course: a two week course at Oakland University, 1998. | | United States Army Signal Officer Course, Fort Gordon, Georgia, l977. | | Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California, l974-l975. |
Five years
later I received a second degree: a B.S. in Electrical Engineering.
In the meantime, I worked several fishing seasons as a Russian translator
on Soviet trawlers up in the Bering Sea. I wrote a book about
that experience–Hair of the Dog: Tales from a Russian
Trawler. As one of my captains used to enjoy reminding me: "You
know too much, it's time to kill you." (It rhymes in Russian.)
PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION
Registered professional engineer in the state of Michigan:
License Number 44379.
Night fishing on the Bering seas, which are quiet, for once. The Russian deck crew workers in the fore-ground are preparing for the new net (codend) full of yellow-fin sole to be taken aboard from the American catcher boat–the bright light in the background. It is around 2:00 am and the political commissar is sleeping, so the music of "Queen" is playing loudly over the speakers.
AWARDS AND HONORS
Appointed to Senior Member, IEEE, 2002.
Naim and Ferial Kheir Teaching Award, 2002.
John D. and Dortha J. Withrow Teaching Award, 2001.
National Science Foundation New Century Scholar, 1999.
Election as “Eminent Engineer” into Tau Beta Pi, 1999.
National Science Foundation New Faculty Fellow, 1998.
Excellence in Teaching Assistance, Oakland University, 1998.
De Vlieg Graduate Fellowship, Oakland University, 1996-98.
Mary Kay Davis Literary Award, Oakland University, 1994.
Certificate of Merit for Outstanding Academic Achievement, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Oakland University, (two awards), Fall 1993 and Winter, 1994.
First Place, Pacific Northwest Writers' Conference Literary Awards, 1990.
Graduation cum laude in Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, l986.
Electric Energy Scholarship (two awards), Electric Energy Industrial Consortium, l985-86.
Antarctic Services Medal, National Science Foundation, l984.
Distinguished Military Scholar and Graduate, U.S. Army, l977.
Graduation with Distinction in Slavic Languages and Literature, University of Washington, l977.
Association of the United States Army Award, 1976.
All-Army In-Service ROTC Scholarship, U.S. Army, l975.
Throwing a live grenade ~age 20.
A good way to learn focus.
Yes, there really is a barber pole at the South Pole.
A dump truck loaded with the last of the year's seal kill on the Pribilof Islands. We are standing well away from the truck–the tradition is for children on the trucks and in the cars of the 'parade' to pelt passers by with bits of seal flesh.
A favorite Antarctic picture. The South Pole Station is
barely visible on the horizon.
Herd Your Horses is a game I created with some friends. It's a perennial best-seller
and was selected as a top-100 game by
Games Magazine.
The daughters Oakley on the Ligurian Coast of Italy, near Genova, during the IEEE EMBS 2002 Special Topic Conference on Nanobioscience.
Irfan, Winter, 2003
Bafti, Summer, 2002
Philip Oakley after 10 minutes in -70 ºF, 60 mph winds at Siple Station, Antarctica.
He doesn't even look cold.