Faculty Advisor
  • Entrepreneur's Club
  • Engineers for a Sustainable World
  • NetZero
  • Management Club
  • Consulting Club
  • Biotechnology Club
Talks
Other
Conferences Organized
Business Cases
Guest Business School Lecturer
Visiting Faculty
Boards of Director Positions
Public
Private
Non Profit
Industrial Management Positions
Other Professional Activities
  • Semiconductor Research Corporation, Board of Directors (1983-1986) Vice Chairman (1986)
  • Microelectronics and Computer Consortium, Board of Directors (1986-87)
  • Council on Competitiveness, Technical Advisory Committee, Washington, D.C. (1991-1992)
  • Albany Medical Center, Trustee (1984-1992)
  • National Academy of Sciences/National Academy of Engineering- Academic Research Facilities Conference (1985)
  • IEEE Continuing Education Committee, Chairman, Advisory Board (1990-1992)
Education
Awards
The Associated Students of Caltech (ASCIT) Award for Excellence in Teaching (2004-2005)
Educational Approach at Caltech
I teach at the intersection of Science, Engineering and Business. The challenge is to impart something of the complexity of the business environment to technically educated students. My classes are in Mechanical Engineering but open to all students across the campus (including occasionally post docs and members of the community).

There are some commonalities to the design of my classes:

Teams:   Since I started at Caltech, all my classes are taught in teams of 2-4 students. I believe very strongly in the power of small teams to create new thinking. Grade differentiation within a team is done through grading variations in a student’s class contribution during the lecture periods (class attendance is mandatory).

Presentations:   Each class begins with one or two student team presentations of HW assignments. They are marked on content not on the quality of presentations but I believe that practice before an audience is critical in developing communication skills. The Caltech student population varies very widely in this area.

Experiential Learning:   Although lectures can be interesting, particularly to the lecturer (!), most of the learning is done outside of class working on projects. There is a Final Paper and Presentation which generates a lot of effort and enthusiasm. I try to make the Final Presentation a “gala” event with invitees from Caltech and outside the campus. There is typically a lot of energy and excitement that goes into these final weeks.

Real World Involvement:   Because my classes are at the intersection of the world outside and Caltech, it is typically very important to integrate outside influences into the curriculum. In each of my classes I use guest lecturers but the collaborations go beyond this, for more details, you can visit ME103, ME105 and E102 pages.