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Position

  • Professor of Engineering Design
  • Coordinator of the Certificate in Engineering Design

Courses

  • Introduction to engineering design
  • Global design
  • Nanoenabled design

Research

  • Design ethics
  • Research driven/ nanoenabled design
  • Computing platforms for design and design education

Education

  • B.Sc. (Eng) Civil Eng. (Hons). Southampton University
  • M.S. (Eng) Structural Eng. University of California, Berkeley
  • Ph.D. (Education: Comparative & Sociology) University of California, Berkeley

Experience

  • Two years in structural design
  • Six months in site construction and testing (Sydney Opera House)
  • Six months in operations (Minirail 1967 World Expo 1967)

 


 

IN BRIEF  Back to Top

Positions Held

2008- present

Coordinator: Certificate in Engineering Design

2003–2008
Director of the Engineering Design Program , School for Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs.

2001–2006
USA PI for PRESTIGE, a consortium of seven universities in the USA and Europe focused on global product design and development.

1998–present
Director, Alliance by Design, a project in global engineering education funded by Alcoa

1999–2001
Interim Director, Science, Technology, and Society Program at Penn State University. Housed in the College of Engineering but delivering interdisciplinary courses campus-wide, 4-5 full-time and 20 part-time faculty.

1993–1999
Director, Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium. Members: Pennsylvania State University, Carnegie Mellon University, Lincoln University, University of Pittsburgh, Susquehanna University, Temple University, West Chester University, Penn State at Abington-Ogontz and Fayette. Annual budget $7-900,000. Primarily funded by NASA and Penn State with other funds from federal, state, and industry sources. Supports science, math, and engineering education K–12 faculty.

1991–1992
Associate Director for Program Evaluation, National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, NASA HQ.

1991–1992
NASA representative to the Board on Engineering Education, National Research Council, Washington, DC.

1990 Fall Semester
Sabbatical in the Values, Technology, Science and Society Program at Stanford University

1988–1993
Director of 6 engineering and science summer programs for high school students funded by NSF and NASA.





COURSES  Back to Top

* EDG 100: Introduction to Engineering Design
* EDG 100H: Introduction to Engineering Design (Honors)
* EDSGN 497D: Innovative Integrated (I-Squared) Engineering Design
* EDSGN 497I: Global Engineering Design





PROGRAMS  Back to Top

Tablet PCs by Design: 2006༯span>

Tablets by Design is funded by Hewlett Packard to study the use of Tablet PCs in student design teams in engineering during conceptual design. It is part of a larger effort to understand and optimize communications during conceptual design when the needs and practices are very different to detail design.  Devon was the initial PI and now is the co-PI. Sven Bil/a> was co-PI and is now the PI.

PRESTIGE: 2002-2006
PRESTIGE is a consortium of seven universities in the United States and Europe designed to prepare engineering students for work in an economy that is increasingly global in nature. Global product design and development was taken as the focus because it provides a richly interdisciplinary entry into global engineering. PRESTIGE provided global student internships, nomadic design academies, virtual cross national teams, and a design resource website.  Funded by FIPSE, the U.S. Department of Education, and the European Union. 

Alliance by Design: 1998༯span>
This program was developed to support collaborative approaches to international engineering education. Some of its undergraduate educational goals are to encourage students to understand the global diversity in engineering practices and codes, and the emergence of international codes and practices. The current exchange was initiated in 1994 by an invitation from the IUT for one to three Penn State instructors to teach a 24-hour course module in a variety of engineering topics at B
une.  Funded by Alcoa 1998-2005.  Since 199 it has supported cross national teams in the introductory design course for honors students and a follow on Industry and Culture tour in France that has run since 2000 with funding from the Schreyer Honors College. The honors course will be offered twice a year starting in 2008 and the second course will offer a collaboration and tour in Asia.





Selected Publications  Back to Top

Devon, Richard, Sven Bil Andras Gordon, Hien Nguyen, and Charles D. Cox.  “Rapid and Flexible Graphical Communication for Conceptual Design.”  International Journal for Engineering Education, Volume 23, Number 3, 2007.

Wise, John, Hien Nguyen, Sven Bil and Richard Devon. "The Effect of Student Tablet PC Use on Student Understanding and Attitudes toward Conceptual Design." 2007 ASEE Annual Conference, Honolulu, 2007

Esparragoza, Ivan E., and Richard F. Devon. "Forming Global Engineers: A Freshman Engineering Design Course with a Multinational Design Project Involving Latin American Institutions." 2007 ASEE Annual Conference, Honolulu, 2007

Devon, Richard, and David Ollis. Technology Literacy for Engineering Students. 2007 ASEE Annual Conference, Honolulu, 2007

Esparragoza, Ivan E., and Richard F. Devon.  “Engineering Design in the Americas: Perception vs. Curriculum Commitment.”  International Conference on Engineering Education, ICEE 2006, Puerto Rico, July 2006.

Devon, Richard F., Elizabeth Kisenwether, and Richard Schuhmann. “Engineering Education and the Global Economy: The Search for Policy.” 2006 ASEE Annual Conference, Chicago, 2006

Decon, Richard, and Joel Haight, "Katrina in the Classroom." 2006 ASEE Annual Conference, Chicago, 2006

Richard Devon, Alan de Pennington, and Alison McKay. "A Consortium for Global Engineering Design." Journal of Engineering Design and Innovation Volume 1E, 2005

Richard F. Devon, Sven G. Bil and Javier Sᮣhez Sierra, and Peter Olfs, “Teaching global engineering design,” 15th International Conference on Engineering Design, Melbourne, Australia,14–18 August 2005.

 

Sven G. Biland Richard F. Devon, “Innovative engineering design education,” 15th International Conference on Engineering Design, Melbourne, Australia, 14–18 August 2005.

 

Devon, Richard, Sven Bil Andras Gordon, and Hien Nguyen, “Informal graphics for conceptual design,” 2005 ASEE Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon, 13–15 June 2005.
 

Ivan Esparragoza, Richard Devon. "Developing the Global Design Curriculum in Latin America and the Caribbean through Multi-National Projects." Third LACCEI International Latin American and Caribbean Conference for Engineering and Technology (LACCEI 2005)
8-10 June 2005, Cartagena, Colombia.

 

Devon, Richard. "Towards a Social Ethics of Technology: A Research Prospect," Tecne, 2004.

Bil Sven G., Richard F. Devon, Mark R. Henderson, & Hien Nguyen. "Global Approaches to Teaching Global Design: Stakeholders, Programmes, and Assessments." World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education, 2004

Devon, R., S. G. Bil A. de Pennington, A. McKay, P.Serrafero, and J. Sanchez Sierra, "Integrated design: What knowledge is of most worth in engineering design education?" International Journal of Engineering Education, 20, 3, 2004.

Devon, R., and I. Van de Poel. "Design Ethics: The Social Ethics Paradigm." International Journal of Engineering Education, 20, 3, 2004.

Virginia Recta, Karen Wynn, Richard Devon, and Janice Derr, “Retaining first-year women in science and engineering through research internships, World Transactions in Engineering Education, Vol. 3, 2003

Bil Sven G., Richard Devon, and Gl Okudan – Kremer, “Cumulative Knowledge and the Teaching of Engineering Design Processes, ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Montr, Quc, Canada, 16 – 19 June 2002. Refereed by abstract.

Bil Sven. G., Devon, Richard, and Okudan, Gl E., “Core Curriculum and Methods in Teaching Global Product Development, ICEE 2002, Manchester, England, 18 –22 August, 2002. Refereed by abstract.

Devon, Richard, and Julia Liu, Global Change & the Management of Engineering Education,” World Transactions in Engineering Education, Spring 2002.

Pollard, Jane, D., Richard Devon, Alison McKay, and Sven Bil “Teaching Design Through International Collaboration, ICEE 2002 Proceedings, Manchester, England, 18 –22 August, 2002. Refereed by abstract

Devon, Richard, Andy Lau, Philip McReynolds, and Andras Gordon, “Transformations: Ethics and the Design of Technology, Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education, 2001. Refereed by abstract

Devon, R. Towards a Social Ethics of Engineering: The Norms of Engagement. Journal of Engineering Education, January 1999: 87-92.

Devon, Richard F., Renata Engel, & Geoffrey Turner, “The Effects of Spatial Visualization Skill Training on Gender and Retention in Engineering, Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, Summer, 1998.

Devon, Richard, Wayne Hager, Jean-Francois Pauwels, Jacques Lesenne, "Building an International Collaboration in Engineering and Technology Education," ICEE-97: Proceedings of the International Conference on International Engineering Education, Chicago, 1997.

Devon, Richard, and Lance Bush, “Teaching Technology Decision-Making for Product Design and Development: A University Course on Technology Assessment and Technology Transfer,” Journal of Technology Transfer, September, 1996.

Devon, Richard F., Renata S. Engel, Robert J. Foster, Dhushy Sathianathan, and Geoffrey Turner, "The Effect of Solid Modelling Software on 3-D Visualization Skills." The Engineering Design Graphics Journal, Spring, 1994.

Devon, Richard F., “Sustainable Technology and the Social System,"IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Vol. 10, No. 4, 1994. Pp 14-19.

Earlier publications include two tutorial books, three chapters in books, five refereed publications, and a dozen or so non refereed or refereed by abstract publications in conference proceedings

 





AWARDS  Back to Top

2003 ACE/AT&T Award Technology as a Tool for Internationalization. 5 given nationally [$7.5K]

1999 GE Award for Excellence in Teaching, College of Engineering [$10K]

1999 Honorable mention for Most Innovative Teacher Award, Penn State University

1998 Collaborative and Curricular Innovations Special Recognition Award Program. The Pennsylvania State University: For creating a new permanent course. STS/Phil 233: Ethics and the Design of Technology.

1998 Member of an 8-person team winning the national Boeing Engineering Educator's Award for Industry Driven Design [$50K]

1999 Finalist for the LaMarr Kopp International Achievement Faculty Award, Penn State University

1996 Collaborative and Curricular Innovations Special Recognition Award Program. The Pennsylvania State University: Introductory Design Course

1994 Member of a 5-person team top 10 recognition for the Boeing Engineering Educator's Award

1992 Group Achievement Award, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washinton, DC





FUNDING  Back to Top

Selected Grants & Impacts (total ~ $6million, 94% as PI)

Year

Amount

Funded Grants & Selected impacts

2006

~$70,000

Hewlett Packard "Tablet PCs by Design."  To study digital ink in conceptual design communications. Initially the PI, later the co-PI.

2002–05

$206,000

FIPSE, United States Department of Education. To establish a 7 university consortium of US and EC universities committed to improving global design education. PRESTIGE: Preparing Students to Work in the Global Economy .

1998–2004

$132,500

ALCOA. Alliance By Design. To support international design teams and international coops. PI. Competitive each year. This funding led to the establishment of the Global Internship and Cooperative Education Program (GICEP) in the College of Engineering, as well as Prestige (above) and a national award (ACE/AT&T)

1999–

$600,000

NASA Learning Technology program. LUAU II. Total for 3 years. PI Web-based middle school initiative on (NASA) mission based education. Passed to the College of Education and Professor Barbara Grabowski. Link

1999–

$2,400,000+

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium, total awarded for 5 years. PI. Ranked 10/50 programs nationally after first five years.

1999

$234,000

NASA Dryden LUAU: Learning Using ERAST Aircraft for Understanding Remote Sensing. Total awarded for 2 years. PI

1997

$234,000

National Science Foundation. “Computer Repair Training program.”co-PI. Judi Wakhungu, PI. Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Institute. Based on pilot program by Devon to build self confidence in women by teaching open box repair and diagnostic skills to women students and school teachers.

1997

$5,000

College of Engineering , “Alliance by Design”an international collaboration in design team competition. PI. See the consequent Alcoa funding above.

1997

$35,000

NASA Wallops Island , “SPIRIT: A Student Rocket Launch Initiative.” co-PI. John D. Mitchell, PI.

1996

$19,500

National Science Foundation, “Women in Science and Engineering (WISER).”Undergraduate Research for Women. co-PI. Created by Karen Wynn Asst. Dir. of PASGC, it is still running in 2004, and it led to a refereed publication.

1996

$12,000

College of Engineering , Course Development Funds for a new course in engineering ethics. PI. Became STS/Phil 233: Ethics and the Design of Technology

1995

$4,000

Equal Opportunity Planning Commission (Penn State), Conflict Resolution Training Course. PI Became STS 297B: Conflict Resolution still being taught in 2004.

1994

$1,900,000+

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium, 5-year grant. Augmented by $95,000 per annum beginning February, 1998. Also raising $20,000+ per annum from Lockheed Martin. PI. Grant obtained originally by Dr. Sylvia Stein.

1994–1996

$6,000

Leonhard Center . Penn State Green Design Conference. co-PI . This conference was still running in 2004

1990–1999

$25,000 pa

NASA funds (funds solicited for Penn State by others), created a research based space academy for high school students. PI with Jack Mitchell. (EE). Ran for 10 years

1990–1991

$65,000

National Science Foundation Young Scholars Program. PI

1989

$20,000

College of Engineering , Instructional Equipment Upgrade, PI. This established the precedent of using tuition surcharge funds in the first year engineering course. Subsequently ~$1 million was acquired this way through 2004 ending in the establishment of CEDE

1988–1989

$60,000

National Science Foundation Young Scholars Program. PI. Summer engineering program for high school students

 


 



Richard F. Devon


 

Professor of
Engineering Design
213J Hammond
University Park, PA 16802

 

Tel: 814 865-3163

 

Email: duf@psu.edu

 

FAX 814 863-7229

 

Secretary: 865-2952

 

 

 

 School for Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs

 

 

 

 

 

 

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