Dr. Derrick Tate
Research -- Teaching -- Publications -- Curriculum Vita
Professional Activities -- Notes for Prospective Students
Contact Information
Dr. Derrick Tate
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX 79409-1021
Tel: (806)742-3563 ext. 228
Fax: (806)742-3540
email: d.tate@ttu.edu
Education
- Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, MIT, 1999
Major area: Design Theory
Minor area: Management
Thesis: A Roadmap for Decomposition: Activities, Theories, and Tools for System Design - S.M. in Mechanical Engineering, MIT, 1994
Research area: Manufacturing
Thesis: Processing and Analysis of Microcellular Open-cell Foams - B.S.M.E. summa cum laude, Rice University, 1992
Experience
- Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Tech University, 2006-
- Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Tech University, 2005-2006
- Associate Professor, School of Mechanical, Electronic, and Control Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China, 2003-2005
- Special Assistant to the Chairman, China Open Resources for Education, Beijing, China, 2004-2005
- Special Academic Assistant to the President, Jingmei University & Leadership Development International, Evergreen, CO, 2001-2003
- Manager of Applications Engineering, Axiomatic Design Software, Inc., Boston, MA, 1999-2001
Goals
- Impact society through bringing design thinking to areas of strategic importance in the global setting.
- Develop sustainable approaches for building systems, transportation, and manufacturing.
- Broaden participation in innovation activities.
- Change the way that design is practiced in industry and taught in universities.
Current and recent projects include
- Development of sustainable building envelopes made of compressed earth block (CEB) funded by West Texas Entrepreneurs.
- Evaluation of engineering properties of cellulosic cement (papercrete) funded by a Texas Tech University commercial development grant.
- Testing and redesign of portable roll-up sings funded by TxDOT.
- A US-Tanzania Workshop: Advancing the Structural Use of Earth-based Bricks, funded by NSF.
- Analyzing the state of the art for energy storage technologies funded by a Texas non-profit organization.
Areas of Expertise
Sustainable design, Innovation and entrepreneurship, Design theory and methodology, Global engineering, Manufacturing.
Research Interests
- Innovative Design
- Using computational approaches for assessing the innovative potential of design ideas.
- Approaches for broadening participation in innovation (Mass Innovation) and understanding cognitive and social processes in design.
- Application of engineering design theory to entrepreneurial and research-based design.
- Theoretical foundations of complexity and design.
- Capturing and Assessing Design Functionality.
- Data Mining and Automatic Generation of Functional Maps of Design Intent.
- Sustainable Design
- Sustainable building envelopes using large-scale compressed earth block (CEB) or cellulosic-cement.
- Sustinable Manufacturing, e.g., Active Disassembly.
- Design Education
- Open educational approaches, such as Open CourseWare (OCW).
- Design Pedagogy.
updated: 2011.07