About Me
Robi Polikar
Well... hello there... For some strange reason you have decided to visit this page...
Maybe you are a prospective student of mine, and would like to make sure that you know every little bit of detail about me before signing up for my class (smart move),
... or perhaps your last name matches that of mine (I know it is odd, but has happened!),
... or perhaps you are just bored (happens to best of us).
In any case, here is me in a nutshell.
I was born on April 22, 1972. It was a good day. A Saturday. After all, Earth Day is celebrated on this very day.
I am originally from Istanbul - the imperial city that once served as the capital of three empires, or as we like to brag, the only city that spans the continents of Europe and Asia (not exactly correct, but sure, it sounds good; the only major city would be more accurate), in Turkey. In college, my school was on the European side of the city, and my home was on the Asian side of the city, so I literally had an intercontinental commute everyday... uphill... both ways. You think I am joking, but no, it is true. Even the "... uphill both ways part." That is because Istanbul is built on seven hills, getting anywhere in this mega city necessarily requires an uphill trip. Ok, I digress... enough about that.
After being kicked out of 8 preschool / kindergardes (a true career highlight, and as far as I know a world record), I spent my primary and secondary school years in various places in Turkey, prior to entering The Dept. of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Istanbul Technical University in 1989. Upon graduating with a B.Sc. degree in 1993 in electronics and communications engineering with emphasis on biomedical engineering, I joined the graduate program at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa in Fall 1993. I received my co-major M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering and biomedical engineeing in 1995, and my Ph.D. degree in the same areas in 2000. I then joined the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rowan University in 2001, where I teach, conduct research as Professor, and since 2011, also serve as the Department Head. My areas of interest include machine learning (specifically adversarial machine learning, learning in nonstationary environments), bioinformatics and signal processing. I also teach various undergraduate and graduate classes at Rowan and I immensely enjoy teaching. I have taught classes in signal processing, pattern recognition / machine learning, bioinformatics, wavelets, biomedical systems and devices, probability and statistics, etc.
I participate in various service projects and professional activities. In particular, I am an active member of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society , having served in various capacities, such as chair of technical committee on Data Mining and Big Data Analytics and currently as the chair of Strategic Planning sub-committee. I am also a program evaluator for the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.
My hobbies include photography, ballroom dancing, going to and participating in live performing arts events, cooking, hiking, swimming, wind surfing, almost all kinds of music, and travelling, in particular international travelling. I find learning about other cultures to be an extremely humbling experience. I have been fortunate enough to travel over 50 countries and 600 cities and towns.
Maybe you are a prospective student of mine, and would like to make sure that you know every little bit of detail about me before signing up for my class (smart move),
... or perhaps your last name matches that of mine (I know it is odd, but has happened!),
... or perhaps you are just bored (happens to best of us).
In any case, here is me in a nutshell.
I was born on April 22, 1972. It was a good day. A Saturday. After all, Earth Day is celebrated on this very day.
I am originally from Istanbul - the imperial city that once served as the capital of three empires, or as we like to brag, the only city that spans the continents of Europe and Asia (not exactly correct, but sure, it sounds good; the only major city would be more accurate), in Turkey. In college, my school was on the European side of the city, and my home was on the Asian side of the city, so I literally had an intercontinental commute everyday... uphill... both ways. You think I am joking, but no, it is true. Even the "... uphill both ways part." That is because Istanbul is built on seven hills, getting anywhere in this mega city necessarily requires an uphill trip. Ok, I digress... enough about that.
After being kicked out of 8 preschool / kindergardes (a true career highlight, and as far as I know a world record), I spent my primary and secondary school years in various places in Turkey, prior to entering The Dept. of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Istanbul Technical University in 1989. Upon graduating with a B.Sc. degree in 1993 in electronics and communications engineering with emphasis on biomedical engineering, I joined the graduate program at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa in Fall 1993. I received my co-major M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering and biomedical engineeing in 1995, and my Ph.D. degree in the same areas in 2000. I then joined the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rowan University in 2001, where I teach, conduct research as Professor, and since 2011, also serve as the Department Head. My areas of interest include machine learning (specifically adversarial machine learning, learning in nonstationary environments), bioinformatics and signal processing. I also teach various undergraduate and graduate classes at Rowan and I immensely enjoy teaching. I have taught classes in signal processing, pattern recognition / machine learning, bioinformatics, wavelets, biomedical systems and devices, probability and statistics, etc.
I participate in various service projects and professional activities. In particular, I am an active member of the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society , having served in various capacities, such as chair of technical committee on Data Mining and Big Data Analytics and currently as the chair of Strategic Planning sub-committee. I am also a program evaluator for the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.
My hobbies include photography, ballroom dancing, going to and participating in live performing arts events, cooking, hiking, swimming, wind surfing, almost all kinds of music, and travelling, in particular international travelling. I find learning about other cultures to be an extremely humbling experience. I have been fortunate enough to travel over 50 countries and 600 cities and towns.