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Dr. Brian Foley

Adjunct Assistant Professor (Electronic & Elect. Engineering)

 Brian.Foley@tcd.ie

 


Biography

A graduate of University College Dublin (BE 1972), the Technical University of Eindhoven (MEE 1974) and the University of Dublin (PhD 1988), my early teaching career was spent at DIT (1974-1981) and subsequently at Trinity College. While my teaching activities have been mainly in the area of digital and analogue electronics, my research interests include adaptive filtering for echo control and CMOS digital integrated circuits, especially low-power aspects. From 1999 to 2006 I served as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Systems Sciences, a period characterised by deep restructuring both within College and the faculty. I have been active in driving engineering curriculum reform and innovation, and was involved in the design and implementation of new professional accreditation procedures with Engineers Ireland. In addition I have served, mostly in the role of chair, of many EI Accreditation Panels at other institutions. In the period 2006-2011, I served as Academic Director of the Centre for Academic Practice and Student Learning and developed a keen research interest in the area of threshold concepts in higher education. Head of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering (2012-2013), I then served a term as Head of the School of Engineering (2013-2016).

Representations

Details Date
DRHEA Management Board 2010-11
DRHEA Enhancement of Learning Strand Committee 2008-11
NAIRTL Management Board 2007-12
Engineers Ireland Accreditation Board 2006-12

Languages

Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
Dutch Medium Basic Medium
French Medium Basic Medium
Irish Medium Medium Medium

Memberships

Membership of Professional Institutions, Associations, Societies

Details Date From Date To
IEEE 1999
ASEE 2006
Trinity Inclusive Curriculum: a case study on the development of an inclusive curriculum strategy in, editor(s)J. Hughes and E. Tan , The Dynamic Curriculum: shared experiences of ongoing curricular change in higher education, Dublin, Dublin City University, 2012, pp108 - 122, [Garvey, M. and Foley, B. ], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Foley, B. , Engineering problem solving: triggering a metalearning response to a threshold experience, Fourth Biennial Threshold Concepts Conference: from personal practice to communities of practice, Trinity College, Dublin, 28-29 June, 2012, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
Foley, B. , Threshold concepts and disciplinary ways of thinking and practicing: modelling in electronic engineering, Third Biennial Threshold Concepts Symposium: exploring transformative dimensions of threshold concepts, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, 1-2 July, 2010, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
The threshold concept paradigm and student use of textbooks in, editor(s)J. Murphy and B. Higgs , Proceedings of the Second Annual Conference of the National Academy for the Integration of Research, and Teaching and Learning: challenging assumptions, Cork, NAIRTL, 2009, pp135 - 142, [Foley, B.], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
A. Grennan, C. Downing and B. Foley, MIMO capacity enhancement by adjusting element positions using the Metropolis algorithm in a deterministic model, Irish Signals and Systems Conference, Dublin Institute of Technology, June, 2006, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
A. Grennan, C. Downing and B. Foley, Capacity variation of indoor radio MIMO systems using a deterministic model, Irish Signals and Systems Conference, University of Limerick, 1-2 July, 2003, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
M. in het Panhuis, R.W. Munn, P.L.A. Popelier, J.N. Coleman, B. Foley, and W.J. Blau, Distributed response analysis of conductive behavior in single molecules, Proc. National Academy of Science, 99, (9), 2002, p6514 - 6517, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Advances on the growth and properties of N- and B-doped carbon nanotubes in, editor(s)H. Kuzmany, J. Fink, M. Mehring and S. Roth , Electronic Properties of Molecular Nanostructures, New York, American institute of Physics Conference Proceedings, vol. 591, 2001, pp212 - 216, [M. Terrones, P.M. Ajayan, X. Blasé, W.J. Blau, D.J. Carroll, J-C. Charlier, R. Czerw, B. Foley, N. Grobert, and R. Kamalakaran], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
R. Czerw, M. Terrones, J-C. Charlier, X. Blasé, B. Foley, R. Kamalakaran, N. Grobert, H. Terrones, D. Tekleab, P.M. Ajayan, W. Blau, M. Rühle, and D.L. Carroll, Identification of electron donor states in N-doped carbon nanotubes, Nano Letters, vol. 1, 2001, p457 - 460, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
J. Timoney and B. Foley, Speech quality evaluation based on AM-FM time-frequency representations, ICSLP 2000, Beijing, October 2000, IV, 2000, pp472 - 475, Conference Paper, PUBLISHED
  

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Awards and Honours

Award Date
Dept of Education Scholarship to UCD 1968
Netherlands Govt Scholarship for an Irish Postgraduate Student 1972
Provost's Teaching Award 2004

Research Interests

Description Of Research Interests

Adaptive signal processing for acoustic echo control and cancellation; developments to and enhancement of the LMS algorithm. Low-Power Digital CMOS; generation of transition sequences for the characterisation of activity factors in a digital system; the study of complete transition sequences; low-power logic design. Threshold Concepts in higher education; identification and characterisation of threshold concepts and functions; engineering problem solving as a threshold function; the role of metalearning.