James T Allison - Optimal System Design

I have been engaged in some form of teaching, tutoring, or mentoring for the past fifteen years. I feel most alive when tackling new knowledge myself, or when helping others through the same process. I have tutored numerous high school, undergraduate, and graduate students in technical subjects, taught lectures in engineering design and numerical analysis at both undergraduate and graduate levels, and even taught mountaineering (I'm a certified alpine climbing guide). I am fortunate that my current position at the MathWorks involves mentoring early career engineers as well.

My teaching experience has included assisting with university undergraduate and graduate courses, industry training, mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students, and tutoring undergraduate and graduate students. In 2011 I will be teaching a graduate course at Tufts University.

My primary teaching interest is engineering design and design optimization. I am developing a graduate-level optimal system design course that could be adapted for industry training. Elements of optimal system design could also be incorporated into undergraduate design courses to enhance student understanding of engineering systems. This could take the form of a single seminar in a design course, or even an alternative capstone design course structured around the design optimization paradigm. My teaching interests also extend to courses in modeling and engineering analysis methods, such as statics, solid mechanics, dynamics, and vibrations, as well as computational methods and automotive design.

Teaching Experience:

ME 555 — University of Michigan

Graduate course on design optimization. I was a guest instructor for this course from 2005 through 2007. My duties while assisting with this course included developing and teaching lectures on optimal system design and optimization theory, holding office hours, developing assignments, advising student design projects, and grading.

CNS 3320 — Utah Valley State College

Undergraduate numerical methods class. Taught a guest lecture entitled: 'Applications of Numerical Methods in Engineering', and developed and provided supplementary course material, including an introduction to Matlab.

NSF RET — Engineering Research Center for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems, University of Michigan

Introductory optimization course for middle school technology teachers, coordinated by the National Science Foundation RET initiative (research experiences for teachers). Taught basic design optimization concepts using hands-on examples.

ATC Training — General Motors

Developed and delivered a seminar for engineers at General Motors to train them in the use of Analytical Target Cascading, a methodology for complex system optimization.

During my time as a graduate student and as a postdoctoral research fellow I served as a mentor for both undergraduate and graduate students. I advised undergraduate and graduate students participating in independent research projects, and advised several M.S. students during their thesis work. When I was an undergraduate student I was president of a large student organization, and acted as mentor for many of the group members. Currently I mentor early career engineers at the MathWorks.

I have been engaged in tutoring technical subjects for several years. You can learn more about the subjects I tutor, teaching philosophy, and other details from this website. I enjoy the depth of learning possible with one-on-one tutoring and small groups. I strive to help concepts come alive by connecting them to real-world examples. If you have any tutoring related questions, please email them to tutoring@design-impact.org.