Inducted
11/01/2008
Degrees
Carnegie Mellon University, BSEE 1964
Carnegie Mellon University, MSEE in 1965
Carnegie Mellon University, PhD in 1968
Wils L. Cooley is Professor Emeritus, Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering (LDCSEE), WVU, and is elected as an Honorary Member. He earned three degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Carnegie Mellon University, including a BSEE in 1964, a MSEE in 1965, and a PhD in 1968. He taught at CMU for 5 years, then served WVU from 1973 until his retirement in 2006.
His major accomplishments include developing and teaching for 25 years a senior design sequence that is widely recognized across the country, supervision of 4 PhD and 35 MS students, research grants totaling approximately $1.9M, and about 100 publications and conference presentations. Much of his research was done to improve safety in underground mining. He served as an ABET program evaluator for 4 years. He received two patents, U.S. Patent 4,209,741 Apparatus for the Continuous Monitoring of Ground Bed Resistance (1980), and Patent 3,608,543 Physiological Impedance-Measuring Apparatus (1971).
He was elected Fellow of IEEE in 1997, with the citation: for contributions to the theory and practice of designing and testing electrical distribution grounding systems for applications in the mining industry. He is a registered professional engineer in West Virginia. He is a member of Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, and is an Associate Member of Mountain. He received the College of Engineering Outstanding Service Award (1991).
Dr. Cooley served for many years as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Rock Forge Neighborhood House, Inc., and in that capacity worked with task forces that ultimately led to the development of the first Emergency Medical Services in Monongalia County, as well as the first recycling program in the county.
He has been married to Jane Yohe since 1966. The couple has two children and two grandchildren.
He was nominated by Edwin C. Jones, Jr.