IEEE - Aerospace and Electronic Systems - January 2023 - 102

Interview With Dr. William Dale Blair
school or family? Is good writing as important to you as it
was with (say) my father?
Dale: My Grandpa Davis told me during my junior
English class that it was important to learn my English
and that " a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. " I
believed him and thought a strong chain was a good thing.
At Tennessee Tech, we had to complete a year ofEnglish
composition with a B average or pass an English qualifying
exam to graduate with an engineering degree. I took my
English composition while in high school and I had a really
great instructor. Remember, I had to fix my weakest link and
I took it seriously because I wasmarried with a daughter.
Joe Anderson, MS advisor, spend a lot of time working
with me on my writing. I am not so sure that he improved
my writing, but he did emphasize the importance of good
writing and encouraged me to continually improve.
Peter: I know that dancing is your passion. Tell us about
how you got started, why you enjoy it, and some of your
competitions.
Dale: My wife, Tammy, passed away in the summer of
2009. She caught the swine flu at the 2009 Information
Fusion Conference in Seattle and died in San Diego the following
Monday. We learned about the swine flu diagnosis
after she died. She was primarily responsible for event planning
for the conference. Tammy and I worked together a lot.
After her death, in the fall of 2009, I was looking for new
directions in my life, when I attended the 2009 International
Radar Conference in Bordeaux, France. At the conference
banquet, Eli Brookner was dancing, and I found that interesting.
I learned that Eli had flown into Bordeaux on Saturday
and attended dance parties on Saturday and Sunday nights. I
decided then to learn to dance. So, I started attending dance
parties in Atlanta and Huntsville and took free lessons for a
couple ofyears. Then, I started paying for group lessons and
eventually private lessons. I have done a few dance showcases.
I did a waltz showcase to " Stars Over Texas. " A tango
to the theme song from the Pink Panther movie. I did a
quickstep, Charleston, and foxtrot to the music in the Jim
Carrey movie, The Mask. I even dressed the part with
makeup and a yellow suit. Now, I compete with girlfriend,
Kathleen, in country western dancing that includes ballroom,
swing, and Latin dances to country music.
Peter: What is your favorite kind of music? How about
sports, do you follow or play?
Dale: I enjoy most forms of music. I enjoy country music
the most. I am an Atlanta Braves baseball fan and a Tennessee
Titans fan. I enjoy following University of Tennessee
and Georgia Tech sports.
Peter: You have four children. Tell me about them.
102
Dale: I have twodaughters-Kathy and Stephanie, two sons-
Tim and Chris, five grandchildren (Katelyn, Autumn, Sawyer,
Karli, Ava) and one great grandson (Kamden). My son Chris is
the only child who went to college, and he received a B.S.
degree in mechanical engineering from Tennessee Tech. He
works as Z1 Motorsports in Georgia and has developed a couple
of aftermarket high performance parts for Nissan cars/
trucks that are in production. He also independently developed
an oil change tool forMazdaMiatas thatMazda now promotes
and sells. One of my granddaughters is in her senior year at
BereaCollege in Kentucky and isjust completing an internship
at Clearwater BeachAquarium in Florida.
Peter: You were promoted to Editor-in-ChiefofT-AES at a
very young age, I think back in 2000-2005 or so. How did
that happen? Did you enjoy it? Do you have any (anonymized!)
experiences as EIC that you would like to share?
Dale: Well, while working on my PhD at UVA, I submitted a
couple ofpapers to the IEEET-AES. I was having serious difficulties,
as were many others, with getting the Editor for
Radar Systems to provide reviews of my papers. So, I complained
to the EIC, who was Carey Spitzer at the time. After
communicating with Carey and getting responses from him, I
sent him my curriculum vita and volunteered to serve as the
Editor for Radar Systems. Shortly after my papers were
accepted, Carey appointed me as Editor for Radar Systems in
1996. So, while finishing the research for my Ph.D., I managed
the reviews of approximately 80 papers per year via
paper and mail for the first two years. In 1999, Carey
appointed me to serve as EIC for T-AES. I served as EIC until
2005, when you became EIC.
As EIC, I appointed Lance Kaplan to be the Editor for
Radar Systems. He called me one day and told me that we had
to reject one ofMerrill Skolnik's papers. I told him to reject it
and recommend that he submit it to the IEEEAESMagazine.
The recommendation to submit it to the magazine upset Merrill.
The AES Magazine was not a very good publication in
those days. Merrill told me that Lance was not qualified to be
Editor for Radar Systems. I askedMerrill about Lance's qualifications
and he told that ifLance was qualified to the Editor
for Radar Systems, he would know him. I laughed loudly on
the phone, and I think Merrill realized that was a silly statement.
Evidently, a young employee at the Naval Research
Lab submitted a technical report with Merrill's name on it to
the transactions for publication. So, Lance and I compiled suggestions
for fixing the paper, and I had a neutral site meeting
with Merrill to go over the suggestions. Merrill got the paper
fixed, and it was accepted for publication. During this year
long saga, I would go to IEEE AESS Board of Governors
(BoG) meetings and be accused oftrying to take down one of
the big guys in radar. Merrill served as a reference for my
IEEE Fellow nomination, and he must have supported it, or I
would not have been selected IEEE Fellow in 2002. So, Merrill
hadnohardfeelings.
IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE
JANUARY 2023
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