Dr. Harry Erwin's Web Site
How to reach me:
Photos:
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Photo taken in my home office back when I was working on my neuroscience PhD. |
This picture was taken in Venice during the summer of 2001. One of the skills I learned in the UMCP Bat Lab was working with flying animals, and the pigeon was amazed to have a mere human being pick it up. It was just beginning to try to escape in the photo. |
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This picture was taken on the north coast of Crete during Easter, 2004. The Minoan palace system has intrigued me for a long time, since it seems to have lacked the stabilization that a market economy provides. The archaeological remains in Crete are extensive enough that a critical eye can get an idea of how the system functioned. |
Walking in Skye in June, 2004. |
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erdös(Harry) = 3 & erdös(Diane) = 5 |
My son, Michael, the Roman archaeologist at Yeavering, August 2004 |
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Diane, hiking on Hadrian's Wall, October 2004 |
Harry, during a break in the hail on Hadrian's Wall |
Research
Neuroscience:
I have a relatively recent PhD (November 1999) in Computational Neuroscience. That means I know how to apply large scale modelling and database techniques to problems in (neuro)science and ethology. I also have expertise in ESS Theory (related to sociobiology) and nonlinear dynamics-I was the first researcher to identify chaos in computer systems (Erwin, H., 1989. "Mixing and Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions in Computer Systems," Computer Measurement Group Transactions, 65:3-6, Summer 1989). The connection between modelling and nonlinear dynamics is deep-I am interested in understanding complex nonlinear systems. Unfortunately, there's evidence that those systems cannot be formally modelled except in approximation (Rosen, 1985), so naturally I'm interested in understanding how well they can be modelled.
Bioinformatics:
My PhD was awarded in bioinformatics. Although my doctoral research was in computational neuroscience, I've had the coursework and so understand current research directions in computational biology. I have a background in the following:
- Computational biology
- Computational statistics
- Phylogenetic reconstruction
and can supervise and do research in those areas (in support of a biology research group).
Security:
I have a professional background in security engineering and am willing to supervise research in a number of areas (if the US and UK governments approve the student). These include:
- Expert systems for security analysis
- Risk analysis
- Intrusion detection systems
- Trust and trust management
- Security architectures
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rfc3751
Software Engineering :
Although I am not particularly active in this area, I have a professional and academic background in computer science, system simulation, and software management, and can supervise projects in these areas:
Current Projects:
Most importantly, I have recently been awarded EPSRC funding for a project in the computational neuroscience of the auditory system. Here is a briefing.
I am working with the various projects to develop biomimetic robots. Next, I am working with the Auditory Neuroethology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, to complete a computational sensorimotor model of an echolocating bat, and I am interested in the development of a "batbot" by the Hybrid Intelligent Systems (HIS) Group at the University of Sunderland based on that research. Finally, I have a background as a senior software engineer and architect, and continue to do some work in that area, although I have retired from TRW.
I am qualified as a research supervisor for post-graduate research. I am currently supervising postgraduate work and final year projects in the following areas:
- biomimetic robotics
- auditory neuroscience
- modelling and simulation (generic programming)
- bioinformatics (protein identification and sequencing)
- software engineering (management and development)
- security engineering (risk analysis, requirements definition, intrusion detection, implementation)
If you are interested in doing a final year project or post-graduate research under my direction, read through this material to get some ideas, and then come see me at my office. For information on studentships, consult the university and school web pages.
Teaching
Programme Documentation:
MSc Information Systems Security
Module Handbooks:
Teaching Software
Computational Neuroscience
Java!
Cognitive Neuroscience
On Critical Thinking
C++
Software Cost Estimation
Security Engineering
I'm a security engineer with many years of experience, including being the security architect for the US Treasury Communications System. The following two links may be of some use. The Common Criteria Toolkit is needed for some MSc projects you may do with me.
We are currently updating the Toolkit to Java 5.
Publications
- Jindong Liu, David Perez-Gonzalez, Adrian Rees, Harry Erwin and Stefan Wermter (2010) “Effect of Inhibition in Computational Model of the Inferior Colliculus for Sound Localisation”. In preparation for Neural Computation
- Jindong Liu, David Perez-Gonzalez, Adrian Rees, Harry Erwin and Stefan Wermter (2010) A Biologically Inspired Spiking Neural Network Model of the Auditory Midbrain for Sound Source Localisation, accepted by Neurocomputing.
- Jindong Liu, Harry Erwin and Stefan Wermter. “From the inferior colliculus to a computational sound localization model,” Journal of Neural Network World. Vol 19. 2009. pp. 499-512.
- J. Liu, D. Perez-Gonzalez, A. Rees, H. Erwin and S. Wermter, (2009) Multiple Sound Source Localisation in Reverberant Environments Inspired by the Auditory Midbrain, pp. 1855-1862 in the proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks (ICANN 2009) in Limassol, Cyprus on September 14-17, 2009.
- Erwin, H R (2009) M-Systems and Consciousness, presented at CASYS'09 in Liege, Belgium, 3-8 August, 2009. Slides of presentation.
- Harry Erwin, Mark Elshaw, David Perez-Gonzalez, Adrian Rees, Jindong Liu and Stefan Wermter, (2010) Modelling Principal Cells of the Inferior Colliculus, in preparation for Cognitive Neurodynamics.
- J. Liu, D. Perez-Gonzalez, A. Rees, H. Erwin and S. Wermter, (2009) A Biomimetic Spiking Neural Network of the Auditory Midbrain for Mobile Robot Sound Localisation in Reverberant Environments, pp. 1855-1862 in the proceedings of IJCNN 2009 held in Atlanta, Georgia on June 14-19, 2009.
- John C. Murray, Harry R. Erwin, Stefan Wermter, (2009) Robotic sound-source localisation architecture using cross-correlation and recurrent neural networks, Neural Networks, 22(2), What it Means to Communicate, March 2009, Pages 173-189, ISSN 0893-6080, DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2009.01.013.
- Erwin, H., (2009) A Library of Voltage-Gated Channels for Use in Neural Modelling, presented at Conference on Natural Computing and Intelligent Robotics organised as an NCAF meeting, on 21-22 January 2009. PDF of abstract. PDF of presentation.
- Liu, J., Perez-Gonzalez, D., Rees, A., Erwin, H., Wermter, S. (2008) Robot Sound Localisation Neural Network Inspired by the Inferior Colliculus. Poster presented at the British Society of Audiology Meeting on Experimental Studies of Hearing and Deafness, York University, August 2008.
- Liu, J., Erwin, H., Wermter, S. (2008) Mobile Robot Broadband Sound Localisation Using a Biologically Inspired Spiking Neural Network. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent RObots and Systems (IROS 2008), pp. 2191-2196. Nice, France, September, 22-26th, 2008.
- Liu, J., Erwin, H., Wermter, S. and Elsaid, M. (2008) A Biologically Inspired Spiking Neural Network for Sound Localisation by the Inferior Colliculus. Artificial Neural Networks - ICANN 2008, vol. 5164/2008, pp.396-405, August 2008.
- Hosni, A; Stobart, S; Imam, I; and H R Erwin (2008) An Evaluation of An Adaptive Multi Issue Negotiation Method: Gorlitz et al. (2000), accepted by IADIS e-Commerce 2008 (EC 2008) as a full paper.
- Walter J. Freeman and Harry Erwin (2008) Freeman K-set. Scholarpedia, 3(2):3238.
- Erwin, H., Elshaw, M., Rees, A., Perez-Gonzalez, D., Wermter, S. (2007) Modeling Regular Firing Neurons of the Inferior Colliculus. International Conference on Cognitive Neurodynamics, Shanghai, November 2007.
- Elshaw, M., Erwin, H., Wermter, S., Perez-Gonzalez,, Rees, A. (2007) Modelled properties of single neurons in the auditory midbrain. IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience, Melbourne, Australia, 12-17 July 2007.
- Erwin, H., Wermter, S., Elshaw, M., Rees, A. (2006) MiCRAM - Midbrain computational and robotic auditory model for focused hearing. Poster for the BSA Short Papers Conference, Cambridge, Sept. 2006
- Murray J., Wermter S., and Erwin, H. (2006) Bioinspired auditory sound localization for improving the signal to noise ratio of socially interactive robots. Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. pp. 1206-1211. Beijing, China. Oct. 2006
- Murray, J. C., S. Wermter, & Erwin, H., 2006. Bioinspired Auditory Sound Localisation for improving Signal to Noise Ratio of Socially Interactive Robots. IROS 2006 International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2006.
- Erwin, Harry R, 2005, "Wiederorientierung in Bats and the Nature of Animal Consciousness," presented at the Third Conference on the Foundations of Information Science, Paris, 4-7 July 2005 (FIS2005) and on-line publication at <http://www.mdpi.org/fis2005/>. This paper reviews the implications of bat behavioral research in the last 30 years for Nagel's 1974 paper, "What is it like to be a bat?" Preprint available here and Slides here.
- Murray J., Erwin H. Wermter S. "A Hybrid Architecture using Cross-Correlation and Recurrent Neural Networks for Acoustic Tracking in Robots." In Wermter S., Palm G., Elshaw M., Biomimetic Neural Learning for Intelligent Robots, pp. 55-73, 2005.
- Murray J., Erwin H., Wermter S. "Auditory Robotic Tracking of Sound Sources using Hybrid Cross-Correlation and Recurrent Network." IROS 2005 International Conference on Intelligent Robots and System, 2005.
- Erwin, Harry R, 2005, "Lessons Learnt Teaching Security to Final Year Students," presented at the University of Leeds, 20 January 2005. Available here.
- Erwin, Harry R, 2005, "Intrusion Detection," BCS lecture in Newcastle, 10 March 2005. Available here.
- Murray, John C, Erwin, Harry R, and Stefan Wermter, 2005, "A Recurrent Neural Network for Sound-Source Motion Tracking and Prediction," presented at the 2005 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN) and published in the conference proceedings published by IEEE.
pp. 2232-2236, 2005.
- Erwin, H. R., 2004, "Algorithms for Sonar Tracking in Biomimetic Robotics," presented at RASC-04, November 2004. Discusses the poor performance of standard tracking algorithms vis-a-vis biological performance. Presents evidence for bats using predictive tracking to capture targets. Available here.
- Murray, J. C., Erwin, H. R., and S. Wermter, 2004, "Robotic sound source localization using interaural time difference and cross-correlation", presented at KI-2004, September 2004.
- Erwin, H. R., 2004, "A Neuroauditory Simulation of Predictive Target Tracking by the Echolocating Bat, Eptesicus fuscus," presented at the BSA short papers meeting, September 2004. The gist of the paper was that echo state machines are poor at modeling how bats represent object trajectories detected using biosonar. More realistic network models incorporating short term memory are necessary. Available here.
- Wermter, S., Weber, C., Elshaw, M., Panchev, C., Erwin, H. R., and F. Pulvermueller, 2004, "Towards multimodal neural robot learning", Robotics and Autonomous Systems Journal, 47:171-175, 2004.
- Wood, A., and Erwin, H., 2003, "Exploratory Modeling of Early Auditory Processing in the Bat, Eptesicus fuscus", poster at the First International Conference on Acoustic Communication by Animals, July 27-30, 2003, University of Maryland.
- Erwin, H., Wilson, W., and C. F. Moss, 2001, "A computational sensorimotor model of bat echolocation." Journal of the Acoustic Society of America. 110 (2):1176-1187, Aug. 2001.
- Erwin, H., 2000. "How bats do it: biological models of air traffic control." 45th Annual Air Traffic Controllers Association Conference Proceedings, 174-178.
- Erwin, H., 1999. A Computational Sensorimotor Model of Bat Biosonar. Ph.D. dissertation, George Mason University.
- Prueitt, P., and Erwin, H., 1996. "Learning as self-organization not self-gratification: The Fourth Appalachian Conference on Behavioral Neurodynamics," Neurocomputing, 11:323-328, 1996.
- Erwin, H., 1996. "Application of Topological Models to Social System Dynamics." In Nonlinear Dynamics in Human Behavior, Sulis, W., and Combs, A., ed., World Scientific, 1996.
- Erwin, H., 1994. "The Evolution of Emergent Structures." Presented at the Seventh International Conference on Systems Research, Informatics, and Cybernetics (August 1994 in Baden-Baden, Germany). In Advances in Synergetics, Volume I, Lasker, G. R., and Farre', G. L., ed., International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics, 1994.
- Erwin, H., 1994. "On Chaotic EEG Dynamics." Psycholoquy, 5(34), Friday, 17 June 1994, psyc.94.5.34.eeg.chaos.8.erwin in the directory pub/harnad/Psycholoquy/1994.volume.5 at princeton.edu.
- Erwin, H., 1993. "The Application of 'Freeman Networks' to Radar Pattern Recognition." Presented at the Second Experimental Chaos Conference, October 1993. Published as "The Application of 'Katchalsky Networks' to Radar Pattern Recognition" in Origins: Brain and Self-Organization, K. Pribram, ed., INNS Press and Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1994.
- Prueitt, P., and Erwin, H., 1993. "Conference Report on the First Appalachian Neurodynamics Conference," Neurocomputing, 5:1-7, 1993.
- Erwin, H., 1992. "The Emergence of Mind from a Darwinian Perspective," WESSCOMM, Fall 1992.
- Erwin, H., 1992. "The Dynamics of Peer Polities," originally presented at the Cambridge Conference on Dynamic Modelling and Human Systems, December 10-13, 1990. In Time, Process and Structured Transformation in Archaeology, S. E. van der Leeuw and J. McGlade, ed., Routledge, 1997.
- Erwin, H., 1989. "Mixing and Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions in Computer Systems," Computer Measurement Group Transactions, 65:3-6, Summer 1989.
- Erwin, H., 1988. "Characteristics of Performance Engineers," Computer Measurement Group Transactions, 60:77-82, Spring 1988.
Miscellaneous
- Erwin, Harry R, 2006, "Arthur on the Edge of Chaos", report prepared for a University of Nottingham Study Tour.
- Erwin, Harry R, 2005, "Symbolic and Episymbolic Evolution During Cultural Transitions", report prepared for a University of Nottingham Study Tour.
- Erwin, Harry R, 2005, "Computationally Modelling the Human Carrying Capacity of Neolithic and Bronze Age Wessex", report prepared for a University of Nottingham Study Tour.
- Erwin, H., and C. F. Moss, 2003, "Predictive tracking of accelerated targets by the echolocating bat, Eptesicus fuscus." In preparation. Will probably add K. Ghose as an author.
Personal
Degrees:
BS, Mathematics, UCD, 1968.
MA, Mathematics, UCSD, 1971 (with progress towards a PhD in algebraic topology).
PhD, Computational Neuroscience, the Institute for Computational Science and Informatics at George Mason University, January 15, 2000.
Professional Memberships
Associate Member, Acoustical Society of America (which means I'm a physicist)
Member, Society for Neuroscience
Member, ACM
Member, IEEE Computer Society
Member, IEEE
Member, IET (which means I'm an electrical engineer)
Member, British Computer Society
Member, International Neural Network Society
Member, AAAS
Member, Computer Measurement Group
Member, British Society of Audiology
Senior Fellow, Washington Evolutionary Systems Society
Work Experience:
I have 34 years of software systems engineering experience. During the last ten years, I was a senior computer systems analyst supporting air traffic control systems. My specialty areas included:
- C++
- security engineering for large scale systems,
- generic programming
- software metrics,
- performance engineering,
- software engineering management,
- software safety, fault tolerance, and reliability,
- system simulation.
Until January 2001, I was an adjunct professor in the Department of Computer Science at GMU. I have been chief engineer for a major USMC command and control system (7 years-never again!) and have twice been principal investigator for IR&D programs. I was the security architect for the US Treasury Communications System.
Other Interests
For my other interests, see my American website.