Download the PDF - School of Engineering Design, Technology ...

Engineering DesignEngineering Design Program launches newCenter for Research in Design and InnovationThe Devon Era: A shift in design leadershipThe School of Engineering Design, These faculty and other faculty hires have transformed theTechnology, and Professionaldepartment from a good department of general engineering intoThe Engineering Design Program is pleased to announce on artistry, craft, and craftsmanship; designing productPrograms would like to thanka nationally competitive home for engineering design faculty,offering full-time tenured positions in engineering design. Thesethe launch of the new Center for Research in Design andfamilies; designing for human variability;Richard Devon for his enormousnew hires are now teaching graduate courses in engineeringInnovation. The center will focus on research in multidisciplinarydesign and innovation, involving faculty from systems optimizationDesign Program and to SEDTAPP.digital fabrication;contributions to the Engineeringdesign, have established a research center in design, and areconsidering a master’s degree in engineering design to beEngineering, Arts and Architecture, Liberal Arts, and theSmeal College of Business. Assistant Professor and Director ofusing evolutionaryalgorithms; and crossdisciplinaryestablished in the near future. There are currently more than adozen faculty—tenure track and fixed term—teaching engineeringcreativity:design courses in the program.the Engineering Design Program Matthew Parkinson is theRichard Devonfounding director of the center.smart products forAs Assistant Professor of Engineeringtomorrow.Design and Mechanical Engineering Matthew Parkinson assumes In 2003, Devon was named and became the first director of theMost disciplines practice some form of design, but in orderthe directorship of the Engineering Design Program, and asnewly established Engineering Design Program. At his initiative,to create truly effective solutions, people must be trainedin its practice. This training involves the mastering ofIn 2008 and 2009,the center organizedProfessor of Engineering Design and former Director RichardDevon steps down from the position, the program ushers in aseveral faculty in other departments also became affiliated with theprogram.technical knowledge and skills in the context of human and a National Sciencenew era. Through the years, Devon led the Engineering DesignSince its creation, Devon has been instrumental in the program’ssocietal issues as well as an in-depth exposure to different Foundation-sponsoredProgram through a lengthy developmental period and into angrowth and development. Several upper-division engineeringcommunities of practice and the concepts, techniques, and workshop series on interdisciplinary design and instructionalinstitutionalized program with a bright future.design courses have been formed by Devon and other designtools each uses to understand phenomena and to create discipline. The objective was to capture, codify, share, andfaculty, which have allowed for the creation of the Certificate inFrOM Eg 50 TO EdsgN 100solutions.propagate instructional experiences and philosophies onEngineering Design, of which Devon is the coordinator, in 2008. Heinterdisciplinary graduate design education across the nation.In the 1980s, John Brighton, who was dean of engineering at the also established the Engineering Design Program as the home forThe Center for Research in Design and Innovation bringstime, encouraged the use of design projects in a course titled EGThe outcomes are a documented characterization of designhonors theses in engineering design.together diverse faculty and leverages, integrates, and expands50 Engineering Graphics. The goals of the course were to helpas a discipline that can be taught, along with curriculara wide range of ongoing interdisciplinary design researchmotivate the students and teach the fundamentals of engineering. Devon established several partnerships with other programstemplates that can be adapted for local use by institutionsat Penn State. Some of the specific areas of scholarship are:and universities, including summer abroad short design coursesnationally. The long-term outcome will be the training ofIn the early 1990s, the College of Engineering received fundinginnovation in design, design decision making, automatedfor honors sections of EDSGN 100 in Singapore and Spain anddesign instructors who approach design—both research andfrom the National Science Foundation (NSF) to form thea non-honors program in France. All are at elite universities. Heconcept generation, design for human variability, designteaching—as a discipline.Engineering Coalition of Schools for Excellence in Engineering pioneered the use of virtual teaming since 1998 and does it in allorganization, product family design, systems design,Education and Leadership (ECSEL). ECSEL, which continued for his EDSGN 100 classes and his 400-level global design classes—visualization, and remote design collaboration.The center organizes a speaker series and sponsors Americanten years, promoted the use of design throughout the engineering with seven different countries so far. He has also created aSociety of Mechanical Engineers Design Engineeringcurriculum, and design projects became an integral part of EGThese areas of research are integrated by two themes: humanpartnership with the School of Theatre for the production of specialTechnical Conferences. It also hosts the annual Iron Lion50, which was soon renamed ED&G 100 Engineering Design andcontexts and design technologies and tools. Human contextseffects.Design Challenge, a week-long design competition heldGraphics. The initial design projects in the late 1980s and earlyinclude cognitive science and social science bearing on designduring the summer that requires participants to design and1990s were mostly centered on performance in competitive games Devon’s other initiatives include actively piloting several projectswork. Design tools include design languages, design methods,build a working prototype by the end of the event.and were motivational in nature.for EDSGN 100, often with companies overseas. He was the U.S. PIand computer-aided design technologies.and principal author of PRESTIGE, a Fund for the Improvement ofFor more information about the Center for Research in DesignDevon recognized the need for a genuine engineering designPostsecondary Education-funded international consortium of sevenSeveral upper-level undergraduate courses and graduateand Innovation, visit www.design.psu.edu or contact directorexperience and petitioned for real design projects and a formal universities in the U.S. and Europe from 2003-07 that sent almostcourses are offered through the center, including coursesMatthew Parkinson at parkinson@psu.edu.design curriculum. This was the beginning of a new era—the100 students on global programs, and hundreds more particpatedtransformation of a single course into the Engineering Designin virtual cross-national teams.Program.Devon is a 2003 recipient of the ACE/AT&T Award: TechnologyBill Dowell, director of research at seating and furniture company Herman Miller,THE dEVON Eraas a Tool for Internationalization and was part of an eight-personInc., visited Penn State in November 2009 to lead a presentation on the design andBy 1997, Devon began using the first edition of Ulrich & Eppinger’s winning team for the national Boeing Engineering Educator'sdevelopment process at Herman Miller, research into the “Arts of Daily Living,” andProduct Design and Development (now in its fourth edition) as the Award for Industry Driven Design in 1998.the office of the future. In his position, Dowell leads a multifaceted research team thatcore material for the methods of engineering design used in ED&Gexamines and evaluates Herman Miller products as they are developed, conducts marketMost recently, Devon, along with professors Mark Horn100 (now called EDSGN 100). This approach gradually spreadand business analysis, and explores future trends. He led the research effort for Herman(Engineering Science and Mechanics) and Richard Doyle (Englishamongst the other faculty.Miller's Aeron chair by examining the components of subjective comfort and methods forand Science, Technology, and Society), received NSF funding for apressure mapping. Recent work has included studies of seating behaviors, anthropometry,That same year, Devon assumed the chair of the faculty search course on the design of nanotechnology. He will also be pursuingtrends in facility management, and the future of technology in the workplace. The Centercommittee, rewriting the job description to emphasize a search for the development of Google Apps as the computing platform for hisfor Research in Design and Innovation sponsored the event, and Assistant Professorexcellence in national searches and a focus on engineering design. course as a Teaching and Learning for Technology Faculty FellowMatthew Parkinson coordinated the event.The resulting hires were Sven Bilén in 1999, Gül Kremer andfor Penn State Information Technology Services in spring andMadara Ogot in 2001, Matthew Parkinson in 2005, and Cari Bryant summer 2010.12 | SEDTAPP NEwS | SPriNg 2010Arnold in 2007.SPriNg 2010 | SEDTAPP NEwS | 13