Professor
Dan Frey
participates
in new PBS series on engineering for
pre-teens
January
10, 2005
Daniel
D. Frey, Assistant Professor of Mechanical
Engineering and Engineering Systems,
has received a National Science Foundation
(NSF) CAREER Award to work with industry
to develop new methods in robust design
and to use that data to work with
WGBH-TV to produce
a children's TV program about engineering.
WGBH is the award-winning producer
of ZOOM and Nova.
According
to the NSF “the project integrates
a research plan that advances the
fundamentals of engineering design
methods with an innovative educational
plan that includes strong outreach
to the K-12 community”.
Frey’s
research will focus on new robust
design methods whose applications
will be tested in industry. The subsequent
TV series will be designed to expose
kids to the philosophy behind the
research, namely experiment frequently,
induce failures, and adapt quickly.
It will feature kids engaged in engineering
by designing systems, planning and
interpreting experiments, and building
hardware.
The
NSF believes this project holds potential
for direct, near-term impact on corporate
product development processes and
training programs, as the research
that forms the basis of the program
(Design of Experiments) will also
directly influence the education of
professionals who will lead major
engineering projects and quality improvement
programs within the next five years.
Frey
will be a principal investigator of
the research, along with David
Wallace, Esther and Harold E.
Edgerton Associate Professor of Mechanical
Engineering and Engineering Systems.
|
