Thomas Edward Blum

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science

La Salle University

Philadelphia, PA 19141

215.951.1139

blum@lasalle.edu

http://www.lasalle.edu/~blum

   

EDUCATION

1987-1991

University of Rochester , Rochester, New York

Ph.D. in Physics

Thesis: Strongly Interacting Quantum Systems in Low Dimensions

1985-1987

University of Rochester , Rochester, New York

M.A. in Physics

Sproull Fellowship

1981-1985

La Salle University , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

B.A. in Physics

Presidential Scholarship, Summa Cum Laude, Physics Department Award

   

TEACHING AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

1998-Present

La Salle University , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Assistant Professor

2003 – 2005

La Salle University , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Director of the M.S. Computer Information Science and

M.S. Information Technology Leadership programs

1996-1998

University of Virginia , Charlottesville, Virginia

Research and Teaching Assistant

1993-1996

University of Manchester , Manchester, United Kingdom

Research Assistant and Tutor

1991-1993

University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Research Assistant

1985-1991

University of Rochester , Rochester, New York

Research and Teaching Assistant

1981-1985

La Salle University , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Tutor and Physics Laboratory Liaison

COURSES TAUGHT

CSC 151

Introduction to Computing Packages

Fall 98 (3 sections), Summer 99, and Spring 00

CSC 152

Introduction to Computing: Mathematics/Science Applications

Fall 98 (2 sections), Spring 99 (2 sections), Fall 99 (2 sections), Spring 00, and Fall 00

CSC 157/CSC 230

Computing and Problem Solving

Fall 98, Spring 99 and Spring 00 (C/C++), Fall 01 (Java),  Fall 03, and Fall 05 (Visual Basic .NET)

CSC 264/CSC 240

Database Management Systems

Fall 02 and Fall 04

CSC 265

Visual Basic Programming/PC Applications

Spring 01, Spring 02 (2 sections), and Spring 03 (VB .NET)

CSC 362/CSIT 362/CSIT 220

Communication Networks and Cooperative Processes

Fall 01, Spring 02, Fall 03, and Fall 04

CSC 370/CSIT 301

Computer Architecture and Hardware

Spring 03, Spring 04, Spring 05, and Spring 06

CSIT 321

Client Support Systems

Fall 05

CSD 340

Web Scripting

Spring 05 and Spring 06

PHY 105

General Physics I

Fall 99, Summer 00, Fall 00, Summer 01, and Fall 02

PHY 106

General Physics II

Spring 99, Summer 00, Spring 01, and Summer 01

PYL 105

General Physics Laboratory I

Fall 99 (2 sections), Summer 00, Fall 00, Summer 01,  Fall 02, and Fall 05

PYL 106

General Physics Laboratory II

Spring 99 (2 sections), Spring 00, Summer 00, Spring 01, Summer 01, and Spring 03 (2 sections)

PHY 201

Digital Electronics and Logic

Fall 99, Fall 00 (2 sections), Fall 01, Fall 02, Fall 03, Fall 04, and Fall 05

PHY 202

Basic Electronics

Spring 00, Spring 01, Spring 02, Spring 03, Spring 04, and Spring 06 (2 sections)

CIS 500

Problem Solving and Programming

Summer 01, Fall 01, and Summer 02

CIS 530

Programming Graphical User Interfaces

Spring 03

 

 



PUBLICATIONS

T. Blum and M. McCoey, “On Teaching Web Scripting to Multimedia Students,” in preparation.

T. Blum, “An Information Theory Analysis of Grade Inflation,” in preparation.

T. Blum and M. McCoey, “Incorporating Business into a Computer Science Curriculum: A Multi-Tiered Approach”, accepted by The Eastern Region of the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. Mar. 2006

T. Blum, “Presidential Memory”, The Code Project, <<http://www.codeproject.com/vb/net/VbNetPresidMemory.asp>>, May 2004

J.S. Frasier, V. Celli and T. Blum, "Resonant processes in a frozen gas," Phys. Rev. A 59, 4358 (1999).

S. J. Phillipson, M. A. Moore and T. Blum, "Nonlocal conductivity in high-temperature superconductors," Phys. Rev. B 57, 5512 (1998).

A. J. Dolgert, T. Blum, A. T. Dorsey and M. Fowler, "Nucleation and growth of the superconducting phase in the presence of a current," Phys. Rev. B 57, 5432 (1998).

T. Blum and M. A. Moore, "Perturbation studies of the conductivity in the vortex-liquid regime," Phys. Rev. B 56, 372 (1997).

T. Blum and A. J. McKane, "Variational schemes in the Fokker-Planck equation," J. Phys. A 29, 1859 (1996).

T. Blum and A. J. McKane, "Improved perturbation theory for the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation," Phys. Rev. E 52, 4741 (1995).

T. Blum and M. A. Moore, "Failure of hydrodynamics within the vortex-liquid regime," Phys. Rev. B 51, 15359 (1995).

M. A. Moore, T. Blum, J. P. Doherty, M. Marsili, J-P. Bouchaud and P. Claudin, "Glassy solution to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation," Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 4257 (1995).

R. K. P. Zia and T. Blum "An introduction to the statistical mechanics of driven diffusive systems," in Scale Invariance, Interfaces and Non-Equilibrium Dynamics, A. McKane, M. Droz, J. Vannimenus and D. Wolf, eds. (Plenum Press, New York 1995).

T. Blum, "A variational study of directed polymers in disordered media with short-ranged correlations," J. Phys. A 27, 645 (1994).

T. Blum and Y. Shapir, "Lattice magnetic walks." J. Phys. A 27, 295 (1994).

Y. Y. Goldschmidt and T. Blum, "Manifolds in random media: Multifractal behavior," Phys. Rev. E 48, 161 (1993).

Y. Y. Goldschmidt and T. Blum, "Directed polymers in a random medium: Universal scaling behavior of the probability distribution," Phys. Rev. E 47, R2979 (1993).

T. Blum and Y. Y. Goldschmidt, "Directed paths in a complex random potential: Effects of long-range correlations of the disorder," J. Phys. A 25, 6517 (1992).

Y. Y. Goldschmidt and T. Blum, "Directed walks with complex random weights: Phase diagram and replica symmetry breaking," J. Phys. I France 2, 1607 (1992).

T. Blum and Y. Y. Goldschmidt, "Directed paths with random phases," Nuc. Phys. B 380, 588 (1992).

T. Blum, Y. Shapir and D. S. Koltun, "Replica approach to directed Feynman paths in random media," J. Phys. I France 1, 613 (1991).

T. Blum, D. S. Koltun and Y. Shapir, "Ground-state energy for `charged' bosons in one dimension," Phys. Rev. Lett. 66, 2417 (1991).

T. Blum and Y. Shapir, "A soluble seven-vertex model for clusters with interfacial bending energy," J. Phys. A 23, L511 (1990).

T. Blum, C. R. Hagen and S. Ramaswamy, "Flux-carrying fermions and the second virial coefficient," Phys. Rev. Lett. 64, 709 (1990).

T. Blum and Y. Shapir, "The nearest-neighbor resonating-valence bond state in a Grassmannian form," J. Stat. Phys. 59, 333 (1990).

Y. Shapir and T. Blum, "Grassmannian approach to the resonating-valence-bond state of the 2D Heisenberg antiferromagnet," Mod. Phys. Lett. B 3, 925 (1989).

 

 

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES/DEVELOPMENT

Summer 2006

Audited CIS 623 N-Tier Architecture.

Summer 2006

Took International Webmasters Association/HTML Writers Guild (IWA-HWG) e-Class on Adobe Illustrator.

Summer 2006

Supervised the independent study of Greg Lutz (Readings in Legal, Ethical and Social Issues in Computing).

Mar. 2006

Attended ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Education, including workshops on Computer Security Essentials: System Footprinting and Vulnerability Assessment, Computer Security Essentials: Intrusion Detection and System Defense, and Digital Media: Why Do We Need It, and How Do We Teach It As REAL Computer Science.

Fall 2005

Supervised the independent studies of Francine Wilson and Alicia Stonesifer (Readings in Legal, Ethical and Social Issues in Computing).

Aug. 2005

Attended ACM SIGCOMM Conference on Computer Communications.

July 2005

Presented a four-day workshop on PHP and MySQL.

June 2005

Attended workshop on ASP.NET 2005, La Salle University .

Feb. 2005

Attended ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Education, including workshops on Teaching Mobile and Ad-hoc Networking using Simulation and Multimedia Projects for CS1 and CS2.

Spring 2005

Supervised the independent studies of Henry Daum (Student Curricular Progress Tracking Program) and David Mitchell (Computer Games/ Simulations and Learning in the Net Generation).

Fall 2004

Audited CSC 340 Database Windows and Internet Applications.

May 2004

Attended Dart Workshops on Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Dreamweaver, XML, PHP and Quark.

Attended CIO Forum.

July 2003

Attended Web CT training.

Fall 2002

Supervised the independent study of Jim Keller (Network Programming in Native C).

June 2002

Attended Microsoft Workshop on VS.NET, Philadelphia, PA.

2002 to Present

Member of the Association of Computing Machinery.

Fall 2001

Audited graduate CIS course Internet Programming, La Salle University MS-CIS Program.

Summer 2001

Participated in Java Workshop Summer 2001, La Salle University .

Developed materials for CSC 157 migration to Java. Dean’s fund.

Spring 2000

Audited two graduate CIS courses, Programming in Java and Hands-on Networking, La Salle University MS-CIS Program.

1998-1999

Refereed for Physical Review.

 

UNIVERSITY SERVICE

Summer 2006

Reviewed graduate catalog entries for MS-CIS and MS-ITL programs.

Assisted with program and attended IT Leadership Panel (IT Crisis on the Horizon: Increasing Demands with a Reduced Labor Pool. What's a CIO to do?)

Spring 2006

Served on Community Development Advisory Board.

Served as a Freshman Advisor.

Reviewed student resumes.

Reviewed DART senior portfolios.

Coauthored (with Linda Elliott) NSF S-STEM Grant proposal for student scholarships.

Attended Charter Week Teaching workshop.

Attended Computer Science Advisory Board meetings.

Fall 2005

Helped administer the Putnam exam.

Volunteered to help IT connect dormitory students to the network.  

Served on Community Development Advisory Board.

Served as a Freshman Advisor.

Reviewed student resumes.

Manned table at one undergraduate Open House event.

Served as reader for a graduate capstone project (Flynn).

Attended Computer Science Advisory Board meetings.

Hosted Ed Malinowski of Keystone Mercy Health Plan in CSIT 321, Client Support, as part of the Executive on Campus Event

Summer 2005

Reviewed graduate catalog entries for MS-CIS and MS-ITL programs.

Spring 2005

Served on Community Development Advisory Board.

Assisted M. McCoey in the development of the MS-CIS and MS-ITL graduate certificate program.

Attended Charter Week Teaching workshop.

Reviewed DART senior portfolios.

Attended Computer Science Advisory Board meetings.

Fall 2004

Helped administer the Putnam exam.

Assisted with Digital Art workshop.

Volunteered to help IT connect dormitory students to the network.

Served on CSC faculty search committee.

Manned table at two graduate Open House events.

Attended two graduate orientation sessions.

Served on Community Development Advisory Board.

Served as a Freshman Advisor.

Helped organize two Computer Science Advisory Board meetings.

Helped organize the fall panel and alumni event.

Served as reader for a graduate capstone project (Balkan/Gaines).

Solicited graduate capstone readers.

Attended graduate capstone reviews.

Summer 2004

Manned table at two graduate Open House events.

Welcomed students to MAT Preparation course at Bucks campus.

Implemented MS-CIS and MS-ITL Warranty program.

Aided in the recruitment of new Computer Science Advisory Board members. 

Attended Freshman Advising Workshop.

Solicited graduate capstone readers.

Revised graduate catalog.

Revised program website.

Served as reader for two graduate capstone projects (Huis and Michvech/McSherry).

Attended graduate capstone reviews.

Spring 2004

Manned table at two graduate Open House events and one undergraduate Open House event.

Reviewed student resumes.

Attended talks of candidates for MIS faculty position.

Designed and implemented a database for the La Salle University Art Museum .

Served on Student Funding Board.

Prepared syllabi and course material for Education Department state review.

Helped organize two Computer Science Advisory Board meetings.

Aided in the recruitment of new Computer Science Advisory Board members. 

Solicited graduate capstone readers.

Served as reader for a graduate capstone project (Hibbshman/Lyons).

Attended graduate capstone reviews.

Fall 2003

Administered the Putnam exam.

Assisted with Digital Art workshop.

Volunteered to help IT connect dormitory students to the network.

Attended talks of candidates for CSC faculty position.

Manned table at two graduate Open House events.

Reviewed student resumes.

Served on Student Funding Board.

Helped prepare a report to the State Department of Education for final approval of the MS-Information Technology Leadership program.

Helped organize two Computer Science Advisory Board meetings.

Helped organize the fall panel and alumni event.

Solicited graduate capstone readers.

Attended graduate capstone reviews.

Summer 2003

Manned table at three graduate Open House events.

Developed software to generate student progress reports.

Revised graduate catalog.

Revised program website.

Spring 2003

Member of the Programming Subcommittee for departmental curriculum revision.

Member of the Networking Subcommittee for departmental curriculum revision.

Served on Student Funding Board.

Manned table at two undergraduate Open House events.

Served on the Department Board.

Student resume review.

Fall 2002

Helped administer the Putman exam.

Volunteered to help IT connect dormitory students to the network.

Manned table at one undergraduate Open House event.

Served on the Department Board.

Served on the Student Funding Board.

Student resume review.

Spring 2002

Member of the Departmental Board.

Manned table at two undergraduate Open House events.

Fall 2001

Helped administer the Putman exam.

Volunteered to help IT connect dormitory students to the network.

Assisted with Computer Science/Digital Art workshop.

Member of the Departmental Board.

Manned table at one undergraduate Open House event.

Spring 2001

Manned table at two undergraduate Open House events.

Fall 2000

Helped administer the Putman exam.

Assisted with Computer Science/Digital Art workshop.

Manned table at two undergraduate Open House events.

Summer 2000

Administered Computer Science Competency Exams.

Spring 2000

Assisted with the installation of new computers in labs.

Assisted at Discover-the-Difference/Open-House events.

Fall 1999

Helped administer the Putman exam.

Assisted at Discover-the-Difference/Open-House events.

Summer 1999

Administered Computer Science Competency Exams.

Spring 1999

Designed and implemented a web site for the La Salle University Art Museum .

Fall 1998

Helped administer the Putman exam.

 

 

PRESENTATIONS

Apr. 1998

T. Blum, Aspects of the Phenomenology of Superconductors, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT, USA.

Mar. 1998

T. Blum and M. A. Moore, The nonlocal superfluid response, APS March Meeting in Los Angeles, CA, USA .

Dec. 1997

T. Blum, M. A. Moore and S. J. Phillipson, Nonlocal conductivity in the vortex-liquid regime, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA, USA .

Oct. 1997

T. Blum, M. A. Moore and S. J. Phillipson, Nonlocal conductivity in the vortex-liquid regime, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA.

May 1997

T. Blum, M. A. Moore and S. J. Phillipson, Nonlocal conductivity in the vortex-liquid regime, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD, USA .

Mar. 1997

T. Blum and M. A. Moore, Perturbative studies of the conductivity in the vortex-liquid regime, APS Meeting in Kansas City, MO, USA .

Sept. 1996

T. Blum, M. A. Moore and S. J. Phillipson, Nonlocal conductivity in the vortex-liquid regime, University of Virginia , Charlottesville, VA, USA .

Mar. 1996

T. Blum and M. A. Moore, Nonlocal conductivity in the vortex-liquid regime, APS Meeting in St. Louis, MO, USA .

Feb. 1996

T. Blum, M. A. Moore, S. J. Phillipson and A. Kienappel, Aspects of the conductivity in the vortex-liquid regime, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.

Sept. 1995

T. Blum and A. J. McKane, Improved perturbation theory for the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, European Network Conference on Disordered Systems and Information Processing, Cargese, France.

Mar. 1995

T. Blum and M. A. Moore, Failure of hydrodynamics within the vortex-liquid regime, APS Meeting in San Jose, CA, USA .

Feb. 1995

T. Blum and M. A. Moore, Failure of hydrodynamics within the vortex-liquid regime, Université de Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland .

Jan. 1995

T. Blum and M. A. Moore, Failure of hydrodynamics within the vortex-liquid regime, University of Rochester , Rochester, NY, USA

Sept. 1994

T. Blum, M. A. Moore, J. P.Doherty, J.-P. Bouchaud and P. Claudin, Glassy solutions of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, European Network Conference on Disordered Systems and Information Processing, Heraklion, Crete, Greece.

Mar. 1994

T. Blum, Replica approach to directed polymers, Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge, UK .

Oct. 1993

T. Blum, Directed polymers: A variational replica approach, University of Manchester , Manchester, UK .

Mar. 1992

T. Blum and Y. Y. Goldschmidt, Directed random walks with random phases, APS Meeting in Indianapolis, IN, USA .

Sept. 1991

T. Blum, Y. Shapir and D. S. Koltun, Complex directed polymers, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA, USA .

Mar. 1991

T. Blum, D. S. Koltun and Y. Shapir, Ground-state energy for "charged" bosons in one dimension, APS Meeting in Cincinnati, OH, USA