Professor Hooshang Hemami celebrates 45 years at Ohio State

Forty-five years ago the first episode of the Star Trek television series aired, the average cost of a gallon of gas was just $0.32 and Hooshang Hemami, professor of electrical and computer engineering, began teaching at The Ohio State University.

Hemami earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical and mechanical engineering from the University of Tehran and moved to the U.S. in 1958. After receiving a master’s degree from MIT and working in industry for two years, he came to Ohio State in 1965 as a research associate and doctoral student. Hemami graduated with a PhD in 1966, and has been teaching at Ohio State ever since.

“I’ve always had good students, good collaborators and good colleagues here at Ohio State,” says Hemami.

In his 45 years of teaching at Ohio State, Prof. Hemami has advised 30 PhD students and more than 60 master’s students. He is so highly regarded by students that they have awarded him the Fred H. Pumphrey / Eta Kappa Nu Distinguished Teaching Award four times.

A prolific researcher, Hemami is interested in understanding human movement. Following the realization that he was too squeamish for medicine, Hemami became interested in combining his interest in medicine with experimenting on a computer. He is currently conducting research on an artificial spinal cord for robots to help people with spinal cord injuries.

A proud father and grandfather with two daughters and two grandchildren, his future plans don’t include retirement just yet.

“There’s still too much research to do!” says Hemami