CAREER: Virtual Reality Techniques to Improve Product Design and Engineering Education

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9625601 Vance This NSF Career Award will fund research into (1) the use of virtual reality techniques to improve product design and (2) the implementation of active learning techniques in the engineering classroom. Areas of design where virtual reality can contribute to the design of better products will be identified and appropriate virtual tools will be developed. In particulars, focus of the research will be on the design of spatial mechanisms and visualization techniques to advance cross-attribute design of large, complex systems. Results of this research in cross-attribute design will be incorporated into a new course in finite element-based optimization. The educational activities focus on searching out and implementing effective teaching methods that will improve student learning. Study groups of interested engineering faculty will be formed to learn about active teaching strategies. Several faculty learning groups will be facilitated. The research funded under this award will provide a template for both the development of virtual reality applications to improve product design and a process to integrate active learning techniques in the engineering classroom. Virtual reality techniques applied to product design will result in the ability to design in a fully three-dimensional design space, and result in reducing the number of physical prototypes needed before production runs are scheduled. Personnel involved in the design process who are not accustomed to viewing three-dimensional models on a computer screen will be able to bring their expertise to bear early in the design process because of the advanced visualization and interaction capabilities available through the use of virtual reality.