Buckman, A. B.

Biography:

A. Bruce Buckman was born Dec. 7, 1941 in Omaha, Nebraska. He earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at MIT in 1964. After earning a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska in 1968, he joined the faculty of electrical engineering there. His Ph.D. research on optical properties of thin films led him into the then-new field of guided-wave optics. He accepted a position as associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in 1974, where he continued teaching and research in fiber and guided-wave optics. He patented a novel fiber optic interferometer capable of enhanced signal sensitivity and noise rejection in 1989. He authored the textbook, Guided Wave Photonics, in 1990.

In the 1990's his long-time interest in optical sensors led to the invention of a free-space, six-degree-of-freedom position sensor based on lateral-effect photodiodes which was patented in 1994 and won a Best Paper Award at the International Symposium on Robotics and Manufacturing. As his optical sensor work led to ever more signal-processing intensive devices in the late 1990's, he began researching the applications of digital signal acquisition and processing to such sensors.

Two important educational by-products of this research found their way to the classroom: 1) converting the introductory electrical engineering laboratory course at the University of Texas to computer-based instrumentation; and, 2) modernizing an introductory automatic control course to fully integrate the study of continuous and sampled-data systems by incorporating the analysis, simulation and implementation capabilities of the LabVIEW programming environment from National Instruments, Inc. His 2000 text, Computer-Based Electronic Measurement, details this new approach to electrical engineering undergraduate laboratory work.

Off-campus, Dr. Buckman has been privileged over the last 26 years to be part of Austin's transformation into a high-tech center by consulting for many companies, from start-ups to large corporations. His consulting has ranged from specific inventive contributions, to evaluating inventions for venture capitalists, to service as an expert witness in patent and other litigation.

Research Interests:

• optical properties of thin films
• fiber and guided-wave optics
• applications of digital signal acquisition