Journal of Mechanical Design

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STATE OF JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL DESIGN: A FIVE-YEAR REPORT (2013–2017)

11/13/2017 Shapour Azarm

Shapour AzarmJ. Mech. Des 139(12), 120201; doi: 10.1115/1.4038271 Although it has been my privilege and honor to serve as Technical Editor (TE) of the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design (JMD) for the last five years, at the end of December 2017 when my term ends, I will hand over the journal to the excellent leadership of the next TE. As this is my last Editorial, it is an ideal opportunity to give a report on the state of the journal and express my gratitude to those who have contributed their hard work and expertise to JMD throughout my term (2013–2017).

Over the last five years, JMD has received contributions from all areas of engineering design with emphasis on synthesis. Example topics include:


(i) design automation, including design representation, virtual reality, geometric design, design evaluation, design optimization, risk- and reliability-based optimization, simulation-based design under uncertainty, design sensitivity analysis, system design integration, ergonomic and aesthetic considerations, design for market systems, data-driven design, origami and tessellation in design, design for user experience, needs and preferences, and design for materials and structures;

(ii) design of direct contact systems, including design of cams, gears, and power transmission systems;

(iii) design education;

(iv) design of energy, fluid, and power handling systems;

(v) design innovation and devices, including design of smart products and materials;

(vi) design for manufacturing and the life cycle, including design for the environment, DFX, design for additive manufacturing, and sustainable design;

(vii) design of mechanisms and robotic systems, including design of macro-, micro-, and nanoscaled mechanical systems, machine component, and machine system design; and

(viii) design theory and methodology, including creativity in design, decision analysis, design cognition, bio-inspired design, and design synthesis.

Selected key statistics drawn from Journal Tool for the years 2013–2017 reveal a steady increase in the number of submissions, an increase in selectivity, and significant reduction in review times. For example:


In 2013, JMD had 567 submissions, with an acceptance rate (number of accepted papers divided by the number of (submitted − withdrawn1 − removed2 papers)) of about 32%.
In 2016, the number of submissions was 869, with an acceptance rate of about 25%.
The average time from submission to publication of an article was about 10.59 months in 2013, while in 2016 was reduced to 7.63 months. In 2013, the average review time, including two or more rounds of review, was 144 days. By 2016, the average review time had been reduced to 105 days.
As of this writing (October 2017), JMD has received 713 submissions out of which 121 are under review, 59 have been accepted (37 of which have been published), 312 rejected, 84 withdrawn, and 137 removed.
The JMD’s Journal Impact Factor (JIF)3 and 5-year JIF4 have also been improving for several years now. For JMD, JIF and 5-yr JIF have been as follows: for 2013, JIF = 1.165; 5-yr JIF = 1.394; for 2014, JIF = 1.250 and 5-yr JIF = 1.561; for 2015, JIF = 1.444 and 5-yr JIF = 1.688; and for 2016, JIF = 2.565 and 5-yr JIF = 3.017. According to ISI, JMD is rated to be in the top quartile among 130 journals in the mechanical engineering field.

In addition to steadily improving its statistics, JMD has endeavored to solicit the best quality papers and promote the visibility of the journal. Since 2013, JMD has had a number of successful special issues on a variety of emerging topics, as listed below:

Special Issue on: “Origami and Tessellation in Design,” Guest Editors: Alexander H. Slocum, Larry L. Howell, and Mary I. Frecker, J. Mech. Des.135(11), 2013.
Special Issue on: “Biologically Inspired Design,” Guest Editors: Ashok K. Goel, Daniel A. McAdams, and Robert B. Stone, J. Mech. Des.136(11), 2014.
Special Issue on: “User Needs and Preferences in Engineering Design,” Guest Editors: Wei Chen, Carolyn C. Seepersad, and Bernard Yannou, J. Mech. Des.137(7), 2015.
Special Issue on: “Design for Additive Manufacturing,” Guest Editors: David W. Rosen, Carolyn C. Seepersad, Timothy W. Simpson, and Christopher B. Williams, J. Mech. Des.137(11), 2015.
Special Issue on: “Design Theory and Methodology,” Guest Editors: Matthew I. Campbell, Katja Hölttä-Otto, and Julie Linsey, J. Mech. Des.138(10), 2016.
Special Issue on: “Simulation-Based Design Under Uncertainty,” Guest Editors: Mian Li, Sankaran Mahadevan, Samy Missoum, and Zissimos P. Mourelatos, J. Mech. Des.138(11), 2016.
Special Section on: “Designing for Additive Manufacturing,” Guest Editors: Jesse Boyer, Carolyn Conner Seepersad, Timothy W. Simpson, Christopher B. Williams, and Paul Witherell, J. Mech. Des.139(10), 2017.
Special Section on: “Data-Driven Design (D3),” Guest Editors: Harrison Hyung Min Kim, Ying Liu, Charlie C. L. Wang, and Yan Wang, J. Mech. Des.139(11), 2017.

Following the example of some of the other ASME journals, JMD also began the process of recognizing outstanding papers. In this regard, in May 2014 I wrote an Editorial in JMD titled: “Announcing JMD’s Annual Best Paper Award Guidelines.” That editorial discussed the motivation, purpose, criteria for selection, and selection process. However, after further thoughts and inputs from other ASME Editors, it was decided to rename the award as the “Editors’ Choice” paper award rather than “Best Paper” award. I then formed and charged a committee to select Editors’ Choice papers from a list of papers that were nominated and voted by associate and special issue guest editors. From that list, the committee selected one paper for each of the years 2014–2016 and granted Editor’s Choice Paper Award to the authors of each. The papers awarded were as follows:

“A Descriptor-Based Design Methodology for Developing Heterogeneous Microstructural Materials System,” Hongyi Xu, Yang Li, Catherine Brinson, and Wei Chen, J. Mech. Des.136(5), 2014.
“Level Set Topology Optimization of Printed Active Composites,” Kurte Maute, Anton Tkachuk, Jiangtao Wu, H. Jerry Qi, Zhen Ding, and Martin L. Dunn, J. Mech. Des.137(11), 2015.
“A Stiffness Formulation for Spline Joints,” J. Hong, D. Talbot, and A. Kahraman, J. Mech. Des.138(4), 2016.
In an effort to promote the visibility of the journal, through the work of Associate Editor Harrison Kim and Editorial Assistant Amy Suski, JMD launched a new version of the companion website,5 including a “Featured Articles” section that highlights the research contributions of work published by the journal in an abridged format that can be widely shared in industry, academia, and social media outlets.

The continued success of JMD has been due to the extraordinary hard work and dedication of numerous individuals, including technical editors (and their editorial board) who served the journal before me, associate editors, guest editors, my Editorial Assistant (Amy Suski) whom I cannot thank enough for doing her job with utmost professionalism and precision, and the ASME publication staff (Colin McAteer, Journals Manager; Jennifer Smith, Production Coordinator; and ASME staff Beth Darchi and Tamiko Fung) who patiently resolved numerous publication related issues. I am also indebted to our reviewers whose insightful reviews clearly show that they do care deeply about the quality of papers published in the journal.

Finally, I wish all the best for the next TE of JMD!

Below is a listing and short biography of the associate editors and special issue guest editors who served the journal during the period 2013–2017:

Associate Editors:

Janet K. Allen, Associate Editor 2006–2013, earned her S.B. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, CA. She is a Professor and John and Mary Moore Chair of Industrial Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. The focus of Dr. Allen’s research is a simulation-based design of complex systems and the management of uncertainty.

Oscar Altuzarra, Associate Editor 2012 to present, received his M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering degree and a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Engineering School of Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain, and a Diploma in higher studies from the Coventry University in Coventry, Coventry, UK. He is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Engineering School of Bilbao, UPV/EHU. His research interests are theoretical kinematics, mechanisms, design of parallel kinematic machines, robotics, and computational solutions to complex mechanical problems in the field of the theory of mechanisms.

Shorya Awtar, Associate Editor 2013–2015, earned a B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, M.S. from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Sc.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan and the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of FlexDex Surgical. His research interests include machine design, flexure mechanisms, parallel kinematics, mechatronic systems, and precision engineering. Application areas include medical devices for minimally invasive surgery, motion stages for metrology and manufacturing, electromagnetic and electrostatic actuators, and microsystems.

Christina L. Bloebaum, Associate Editor 2016 to present, received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. She is the Dennis and Rebecca Muilenburg Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State University (ISU) in Ames, IA. She is also a member of the Virtual Reality Applications Center (VRAC) and the Human–Computer Interaction program at ISU. She conducts research in design of complex engineered systems, with an emphasis on achieving consistency in physics through incorporation of multidisciplinary design optimization as well as preferences through incorporation of value-based systems engineering and decision analysis.

Diann Brei, Associate Editor 2008–2013, earned her B.S.E degree in Computer Systems Engineering and her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Arizona State University. She is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI and co-directs the General Motors/University of Michigan Multifunctional Vehicle Systems Collaborative Research Laboratory. Her research interests include integrated design methodology/processes, device innovation, smart materials and structures, and actuation.

Jonathan Cagan, Associate Editor 1998–2001 and 2008–2014, received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science from the University of Rochester, and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, all in Mechanical Engineering. He is the George Tallman and Florence Barrett Ladd Professor in Engineering, in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, with courtesy appointment in the School of Design. At Carnegie Mellon he serves as Associate Dean for Graduate and Faculty Affairs in the College of Engineering, co-directs the Integrated Innovation Institute, and is a faculty co-director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. His research focuses on product development, computational innovation, and cognitive-based engineering.

Massimo Callegari, Associate Editor 2015 to present, received the Laurea degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Genova, Genova, Italy. He is a Professor of Machine Mechanics, Chair of the Board of Teachers of Mechanical Engineering degrees, member of the Steering Committee, and Deputy Director of the department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at the Faculty of Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Marche in Ancona, Italy. He has participated into different national and international research projects in the fields of automation, robotics, and innovative handling devices.

Dar-Zen Chen, Associate Editor 2015-present, received his B.S. degree from National Taiwan University (NTU) and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. He is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Institute of Industrial Engineering at National Taiwan University. In addition to robotics, kinematics, and mechanism design, his research interests also cover intellectual property management, scientometrics, and competitive analysis.

Wei Chen, Associate Editor 2003–2006 and 2010–2013 and Guest Editor 2014–2015, earned her Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology, M.S. from University of Houston, and B.S. from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, all in mechanical engineering. She is a Wilson-Cook Chair Professor in Engineering Design at Northwestern University in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Her research focuses on design under uncertainty, consumer choice modeling, and decision making in design.

Olivier L. de Weck, Associate Editor 2010–2013, obtained his degree in Industrial Engineering from ETH Zurich and S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is an Associate Professor of Engineering Systems and Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. His research focuses on understanding how complex man-made systems evolve over time and how we can design them to be more changeable while maximizing lifecycle value.

Andy Dong, Associate Editor 2013–2016, earned a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, all in Mechanical Engineering. He is a Professor and holds the Warren Centre Chair for Engineering Innovation in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies at the University of Sydney. Professor Dong is an expert in the analysis of design data such as organizational interactions, design documents, and product data to forecast and manage the performance of engineering design.

Xiaoping Du, Associate Editor 2016 to present, received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago, IL, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China, and Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China, respectively. He is a Curator’s Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology. His research focuses on design under uncertainty, reliability, and optimization.

Qi Fan, Associate Editor 2012 to present, received his M.S. degree in mechanical engineering at Wuhan Transportation University and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a Senior Gear Theoretician and Director of Bevel Gear Technology (China) at The Gleason Works. He is the current Chair of the Committee of ASME Power Transmission and Gearing. His areas of interest include gear geometry and application, gear manufacturing process, machine tools, and machine elements.

Scott Ferguson, Associate Editor 2016 to present, received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University at Buffalo. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at North Carolina State University and the director of the System Design Optimization Lab. His research in engineering design and system optimization explores challenges associated with the design of complex engineered systems and market-driven product design.

Zhang-Hua Fong, Associate Editor 2013–2015, received a B.S. degree from National Chung Hsing University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from National Chiao Tung University, all in mechanical engineering. He is a Research Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Dean of the College of Engineering at National Chung Cheng University in Taiwan.

Mary Frecker, Associate Editor 2005–2011 and Guest Editor 2012–2013, has a B.S. from the University of Dayton and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. She is a Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. Her areas of interest include optimal design, compliant mechanisms, smart structures, and medical device design.

Feng Gao, Associate Editor 2012–2014, received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China. He is a full professor and serves as the director of State Key Lab of Mechanical Systems and Vibration at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research areas include macro- and microparallel manipulators, humanoid and multileg robots, and design and control of heavy-duty machinery with parallel mechanisms.

Ashitava Ghosal, Associate Editor 2006–2013, obtained B.Tech., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, University of Florida at Gainesville and Stanford University, respectively. He is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and a faculty member of the Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. His research interests include robotics and multibody mechanical systems, design of mechanical systems, and product design.

Massimiliano Gobbi, Associate Editor 2014–2017, was awarded a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, and Ph.D. in Applied Mechanics. He is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano. His research focuses on road vehicles engineering, optimization of complex systems, and advanced design.

David J. Gorsich, Associate Editor 2009–2015, received a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.S. in applied mathematics from George Washington University, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Lawrence Technological University. He is the Chief Scientist of the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC). His areas of expertise include simulation, reliability-based design optimization, terrain modeling, spatial statistics, and other approximation methods.

James Guest, Associate Editor 2014 to present, received his Ph.D. and M.S.E. from Princeton University, and B.S.E. from the University of Pennsylvania, all in Civil Engineering. He is an Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and leads the JHU Topology Optimization Group whose research focuses on developing topology optimization algorithms for the design of materials and structures.

Katja Hölttä-Otto, Guest Editor 2015–2016 and Associate Editor 2016 to present, received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology. She is an Associate Professor of product development at the Design Factory at Aalto University, Espoo, Finland. Her areas of specialization include creativity, need finding, design methodologies, and modular product platforms.

Larry L. Howell, Associate Editor 2004–2008 and Guest Editor 2012–2013, received his B.S. degree from Brigham Young University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Purdue University. He is a Professor, Associate Dean, and past chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he holds a University Professorship. Professor Howell’s patents and technical publications focus on compliant mechanisms.

Chintien Huang, Associate Editor 2012–2014, received his B.S. degree from National Chung Hsing University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University, all in mechanical engineering. He is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. His areas of expertise include theoretical/computational kinematics and mechanism design.

Charles Kim, Associate Editor 2015–2016, received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology and M.S.E. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. He is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Bucknell University. Professor Kim’s primary technical research interests are in methodologies for the design of compliant systems and soft robotic actuators. Professor Kim is also involved in numerous curricular and co-curricular initiatives to synthesize design, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Harrison Kim, Associate Editor 2013 to present and Guest Editor 2016–2017, received his B.S. and M.S. from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, all in Mechanical Engineering. He is a Professor in the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is affiliated with the Computational Science and Engineering Program at the University of Illinois. His research focuses on complex systems design, product design analytics, multidisciplinary design optimization, sustainability, market systems, and energy systems engineering.

Nam-Ho Kim, Associate Editor 2015-present, received his Ph.D. from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Iowa. He is a Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. His research areas are structural design optimization, design sensitivity analysis, design under uncertainty, prognostics and health management, nonlinear structural mechanics, and structural-acoustics.

Michael Kokkolaras, Associate Editor 2008–2014, received a Diploma in Aerospace Engineering from the Technical University of Munich and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University. He is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University. His research interests include multidisciplinary optimization, simulation-based engineering design, uncertainty quantification, decomposition and coordination methods, modeling and validation, systems of systems, product families, and optimization applications in engineering.

Mohsen Kolivand, Guest Editor 2016–2017 and Associate Editor 2017 to present, received his B.S. and M.S. from Tehran University and his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University, all in Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Kolivand is a Bevel Gear Design Manager at American Axle and Manufacturing, Inc., Detroit, MI. His areas of interest include gear geometry, gear manufacturing and inspection, gear efficiency, life estimation, wear analysis, and noise, vibration and harshness evaluation.

Gül E. Kremer, Associate Editor 2014 to present, received her Ph.D. from the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering of Missouri University of Science and Technology. She is a Professor and C.G. “Turk” & Joyce A. Therkildsen Department Chair of Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at The Iowa State University. Professor Kremer’s research interests are in the areas of design education, design decision-making, and sustainability in product design.

Yu-Tai Lee, Associate Editor 2015 to present, received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the National Taiwan University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanics and Hydraulics from the University of Iowa. He was a Senior Scientist at the Computational Hydromechanics Division of Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division. His work has included designing high-pressure fans for Navy’s mission-critical shipboard ventilation systems, and coupling computational fluid dynamics optimization schemes for naval ship HVAC compressors and hovercraft lift fans.

Mian Li, Guest Editor 2015–2016 and Associate Editor 2017 to present, earned his B.E. and M.S. in Control Engineering from Tsinghua University China, and his Ph.D. from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland at College Park. He is an Associate Professor in the University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute and adjunct Associate Professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering, at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research work has been focused on robust/reliability-based multidisciplinary design optimization and control.

Craig Lusk, Associate Editor 2012–2015, earned his M.S. from Virginia Tech and Ph.D. from Brigham Young University. He is an Associate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of South Florida, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on mechanisms and applied elasticity. His research interests include compliant mechanisms, MEMS, biomechanics, and spherical/spatial mechanisms.

Christopher A. Mattson, Associate Editor 2013 to present, received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Brigham and Young University and his Ph.D. from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Brigham Young University (BYU). Professor Mattson’s research interests include product development, multi-objective optimization, computational design, and design for the developing world.

Samy Missoum, Guest Editor 2015–2016 and Associate Editor 2016 to present, received his doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Toulouse, France. He is an Associate Professor in the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Arizona and the Director of the Computational Design Optimization of Engineering Systems (CODES) Laboratory. His research focuses on the development and advanced applications of new optimization, reliability, and risk assessment techniques for nonlinear problems exhibiting a high sensitivity to uncertainty.

Zissimos P. Mourelatos, Associate Editor 2009–2013 and Guest Editor 2015–2016, earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Oakland University and holds the John F. Dodge Chair position of Engineering. Professor Mourelatos conducts research in the areas of design under uncertainty, structural reliability methods, reliability analysis with insufficient data, reliability-based design optimization, vibrations and dynamics, and noise, vibration, and harshness.

David H. Myszka, Associate Editor 2015 to present, received B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and M.B.A. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Dayton. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Dayton and co-director of the Design of Innovative Machines Laboratory, where he is involved in several academic and industrial projects related to machine and mechanism design, analysis, and experimentation.

Shinji Nishiwaki, Associate Editor 2012–2015, received his B.E. and M.E. degrees in the Department of Precision Engineering from Kyoto University, and Ph.D. in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics from the University of Michigan. He is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Science at Kyoto University, Japan. His areas of interest include topology optimization, optimum system design, and multidisciplinary design optimization.

Christiaan J. J. Paredis, Associate Editor 2011–2013, has an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a Professor and Woodruff Faculty Fellow in the G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. His areas of interest include Model-Based Systems Engineering, decision-making under uncertainty, and design optimization.

Matthew Parkinson, Associate Editor 2012–2015, holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, an M.S. in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan, and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University. He is a Professor and Director of the Learning Factory at Pennsylvania State University in the College of Engineering. His research efforts focus on tools and methodologies for the design of artifacts that are robust to human variability.

Ettore Pennestrì, Associate Editor 2013 to present, received Laurea in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rome La Sapienza and an M.S. and Doctor of Engineering Science from Columbia University, New York. He is a Professor of Mechanics Applied to Machines at the University of Roma Tor Vergata, Italy, and holds a teaching appointment at Università Campus Biomedico in Rome. His areas of specialization include powertrain design, mechanisms design, computational kinematics, biomechanics, and multibody dynamics.

Karthik Ramani, Associate Editor 2008-2014, earned his B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, M.S. from the Ohio State University, and Ph.D. from Stanford University, all in Mechanical Engineering. He is a Professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering and of Electrical and Computer Engineering (by Courtesy) at Purdue University. His expertise includes digital and computational geometry, shape design and analysis, shape and ontology search, and computational tools for early design innovation.

Kazuhiro Saitou, Associate Editor 2013–2016, received a B.Eng. degree from the University of Tokyo and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. His research interests include assembly design, structural optimization, manufacturing systems, and biomedical image processing.

James P. Schmiedeler, Associate Editor 2007–2013, received a B.S. degree from the University of Notre Dame and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from The Ohio State University, all in mechanical engineering. He is a Professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. Professor Schmeideler’s areas of interest include machine design, robotics, and biomechanics.

Carolyn Conner Seepersad, Associate Editor 2013 to present and Guest Editor 2014–2017, earned her B.S. degree from West Virginia University and M.S. and Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, all in mechanical engineering. She also earned a B.A./M.A. from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. She is an Associate Professor and General Dynamics Faculty Fellow in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on design automation, design of engineering materials and structures, set-based design, design for additive manufacturing, conceptual design, and innovation.

Kristina Shea, Associate Editor 2013–2016, earned her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. She is a Professor for Engineering Design and Computing at ETH Zürich in Switzerland. Professor Shea’s areas of expertise include design methods, design representations, synthesis, computational design, model-based design, and additive manufacturing.

Timothy W. Simpson, Associate Editor 2006–2013 and Guest Editor 2014–2017, received a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is the Paul Morrow Professor of Engineering Design and Manufacturing at the Pennsylvania State University in University Park. He also holds faculty appointments in Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Architecture, the School of Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs, and the College of Information Sciences and Technology. His research focuses on product family design, product platforms, additive manufacturing, and design innovation.

Avinash Singh, Associate Editor 2007–2013, received his B. Tech. degree from the Institute of Technology, BHU, India, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Ohio State University. Dr. Singh is an Engineering Group Manager—Advanced Torque Converters and Gear Systems, in the Advanced Power Transfer Group of GM Powertrain, General Motors Corporation. He works on power transmission component technology and his research interests are in the areas of gear system design and analysis, dynamics and noise, development and validation of high fidelity models, power losses, rotating system diagnostics, and fatigue life prediction.

Alexander H. Slocum, Associate Editor 2009–2014 and Guest Editor 2012–2013, earned S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). He is the Walter M. May and Hazel May Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His areas of interest include machine elements, precision machine design, medical devices, and energy harvesting machines.

Rikard Söderberg, Associate Editor 2012 to present, received his Ph.D. from Chalmers University of Technology. He is the head of the department for Industrial and Materials Science and Director for Wingquist Laboratory. Dr. Söderberg has been a scientific advisor for the Fraunhofer Chalmers Centre of Industrial Mathematics since it was found in 2001 and is Chairman of its Board of Directors. His research focuses on minimizing the effect of geometrical variation and includes industrial design aspects, visualization, robust design, statistical variation simulation, optimization, assembly modeling and analysis, inspection preparation, and analysis.

Janis Terpenny, Associate Editor 2008–2014, earned a B.S. degree in Applied Mathematics from Virginia Commonwealth University, an M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, and a Ph.D. degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech. She is the Peter & Angela Dal Pezzo Chair and Department Head of the Harold & Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Penn State. Her research interests include engineering design and smart manufacturing, knowledge and information in design, product families and platforms, product obsolescence, complexity of products and systems, cloud computing, and design education.

Kwun-Lon Ting, Associate Editor 2006–2014, received a B.S. from National Taiwan University, M.S. from Clemson University, and Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. He is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Tennessee Tech. His research interests include kinematics, compliant mechanisms, robotics, and optimization.

Irem Tumer, Associate Editor 2012 to present, received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. She is a Professor at Oregon State University, where she leads research in complex system design as part of the Design Engineering Labs, and currently serves as Associate Dean for Research for the College of Engineering. Her expertise is system-level design and analysis for software-intensive engineered systems, focusing on risk and failure analysis and engineering design theory and methodology.

G. Gary Wang, Associate Editor 2013 to present, received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. from School of Mechanical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and obtained his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from University of Victoria. He is a professor at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver, BC, Canada. His research focuses on engineering optimization, metamodel-based design optimization, design visualization, and design for manufacturing.

Paul Witherell, Guest Editor 2016–2017 and Associate Editor 2017 to present, received his Ph.D. from the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is a Mechanical Engineer in the Systems Integration Division of the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where he manages a project on Systems Integration for Additive Manufacturing and serves as the Associate Program Manager of the Measurement Science for Additive Manufacturing program in the Engineering Laboratory. His research interests include design for additive manufacturing, digital thread for additive manufacturing, design optimization, knowledge representation in product development, ontology and semantic relatedness for design manufacturing, and sustainable manufacturing.

Hai Xu, Associate Editor 2015 to present, received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University, The University of Michigan-Dearborn, and Nanjing University of Science and Technology, China, respectively. He is a Senior Staff Engineer of the General Motors Company and serves as a Driveline Gear Technical Specialist at GM’s Global Vehicle Components and Subsystems Unit, primarily responsible for hypoid gearing technology development. His expertise is in gear design and manufacturing methods, gear geometry and applications, gear tribology, power loss, fatigue, and noise and vibration.

Hong-Sen Yan, Associate Editor 2007–2013, holds a B.S. from the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), M.S. from the University of Kentucky, and Ph.D. from Purdue University, all in mechanical engineering. He is an NCKU Chair Professor and an honorary member of IFToMM. Professor Yan’s areas of interest include kinematics, conceptual design of mechanisms and machines, and reconstruction design of ancient machinery.

Bernard Yannou, Associate Editor 2008–2015 and Guest Editor 2014–2015, received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Ecole Normale Supérieure of Cachan (ENSC), M.S. in Computer Science from Paris-6 University, and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from ENSC. He is a Professor of Industrial and Design Engineering and head of the Industrial Engineering Research Department, CentraleSupélec. His areas of interest include design science, design automation, design management/methodologies/new product development, artificial intelligence in design, innovation engineering, and sustainable design.


Special Issue Guest Editors:


Jesse R. Boyer, Guest Editor 2016–2017, holds two B.S.E. degrees from the University of Michigan in Aerospace Engineering and Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. He is currently the Additive Manufacturing Fellow at Pratt & Whitney (P&W) and is involved curriculum development at the University of Connecticut and the University of Hartford. His research focus is on key process variables to control additive manufacturing, in-process monitoring for production, digital thread related to inspection, and additive manufacturing.

Matt Campbell, Guest Editor 2015–2016, received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Campbell is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State University with research focusing on methods that independently create solutions for typical mechanical engineering design problems like gear trains, sheet metal, planar mechanisms, and planning for manufacturing, assembly, and disassembly. He has expertise in a variety of fields such as machine design, design theory, artificial intelligence, graph theory, and numerical optimization.

Clive L. Dym, Guest Editor 2015–2016, completed the B.S.C.E. at Cooper Union, an M.S. at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, and Ph.D. at Stanford University. Dr. Dym was a Professor Emeritus of Engineering at Harvey Mudd College where he was the Fletcher Jones Professor of Engineering Design and Director of the Center for Design Education at Harvey Mudd, as well as Engineering Department Chair. His interests included design theory, knowledge-based (expert) systems for engineering design, and structural and applied mechanics.

Ashok K. Goel, Guest Editor 2013–2015, earned his Ph.D. from the Ohio State University. He is a Professor in the School of Interactive Computing, and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Computational Science and Engineering and the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He is also the Director of Interactive Computing’s Design and Intelligence Laboratory and a Co-Director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Biologically Inspired Design. Professor Goel conducts research into human-centered computing, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science, with a focus on computational design, modeling, and creativity.

Julie S. Linsey, Guest Editor 2015–2016, received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. She is an Associate Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She founded and leads the Innovation, Design Reasoning, and Engineering Education (IDREEM) Lab. Dr. Linsey’s research area is design cognition including systematic methods and tools for innovative design with a particular focus on concept generation and design-by-analogy.

Ying Liu, Guest Editor 2016–2017, obtained his Bachelor and Master’s degrees from the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Chongqing University, China, and his Ph.D. from the Innovation in Manufacturing Systems and Technology program under the Singapore MIT Alliance at the National University of Singapore. He is an Associate Professor with the Institute of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the School of Engineering in Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK. His research interests focus primarily on design informatics, manufacturing informatics, intelligent (digital) manufacturing, design methodology and process, product design, and advanced ICT in design and manufacturing.

Sankaran Mahadevan, Guest Editor 2015–2016, obtained his B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, M.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology. Professor Mahadevan is the John R. Murray Sr. Professor of Engineering at Vanderbilt University, where he has appointments in Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering and is a Co-Director of Laboratory for Systems Integrity and Reliability. His areas of research interest include reliability and risk analysis, design optimization, structural health monitoring, model verification and validation, and uncertainty quantification.

Daniel A. McAdams, Guest Editor 2013–2015, received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University and directs the Product Synthesis Engineering Research Lab. Dr. McAdams’ research interests are in the area of design theory and methodology with specific focus on functional modeling, innovation in concept synthesis, biologically inspired design methods, inclusive design, and technology evolution as applied to product design.

David Rosen, Guest Editor 2014–2015, received his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts in mechanical engineering. He is a Professor and Associate Chair for Administration in the School of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests include computer-aided design, additive manufacturing, and design methodology.

Robert B. Stone, Guest Editor 2013–2015, completed his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. He is Professor in the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University. Dr. Stone’s research interests include design theories and methodologies, specifically product architectures, functional representations and automated conceptual design techniques, and biologically inspired design.

Charlie C. L. Wang, Guest Editor 2016–2017, received a B.Eng. degree in mechatronics engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. He received his M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He is a Professor and Chair of Advanced Manufacturing in the Department of Design Engineering at Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. His research interests include geometric computing, computer-aided design, advance manufacturing, and computational physics.

Yan Wang, Guest Editor 2016 to present, received his B.S. from Tsinghua University, M.S. from Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. He is an Associate Professor at the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology. His research focus is on modeling and simulation-based design and multiscale systems engineering.

Christopher Williams, Guest Editor 2014–2017, received a B.S. degree with High Honors at the University of Florida and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Georgia Tech, all in mechanical engineering. He is an Associate Professor and J. R. Jones Senior Faculty Fellow at Virginia Tech in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He also serves as the Associate Director of the Macromolecules Innovation Institute. His expertise is in additive manufacturing (processes and materials), design for additive manufacturing, and engineering design education.