CAMPUS CURRENT
FAC U LT Y N E WS
In Memoriam
Engineering Professor Clive Dym Renowned engineering educator, prolific scholar, mentor
INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED ENGINEERING
educator and Harvey Mudd College Professor of Engineering Emeritus Clive L. Dym died at his home in Claremont, California, on May 3. An expert both in mechanics and in the use of artificial intelligence in engineering design, Dym had an enormous impact on engineering education at Harvey Mudd and around the world. Dym joined Harvey Mudd in 1991 as the inaugural holder of the Fletcher Jones Design Chair, where he developed innovative strategies and paradigms that transformed design education. Dym believed design was the distinguishing activity of the engineer, an activity that he viewed as central to creative thinking, problem solving and decision making. He developed a framework for teaching design that rejected the notion that students required a foundation of engineering science before their engagement in design and brought formal design education to the first-year curriculum. One of his most innovative contributions resulted in design thinking and exercises within the team environment, where diversity of thought and experience combined to produce the desired outcomes. Dym wrote extensively about design, how to think about design and why design thinking was so critical to effective decision making. Through his passion for design engagement, Dym created a community of scholars interested in design education and organized a biennial program of workshops—now named in his honor as the
10
HARVEY MUDD COLLEGE
Clive L. Dym Mudd Design Workshops—that brought together educators, practitioners and researchers to discuss issues in design and engineering education. Prior to joining the College, Dym was renowned for his contributions in the fields of applied mechanics and artificial intelligence. He was an expert in the areas of solid mechanics, applied elasticity and stability formulations and in the performance of plates and shells, where he used energy formulations to develop simplified methods for the analysis of complex structures. Over the course of his long career, his interests shifted to expert systems, computer-aided engineering and the idea that artificial intelligence could lead to enhanced knowledge acquisition and decision making. Dym was a prolific writer, authoring and co-authoring hundreds of refereed journal articles, proceedings and technical reports, as well as 13 books. Dym’s contributions brought a multitude of recognition, awards and prizes, including the Walter L. Huber Research Prize (ASCE), the Fred Merryfield Design Award (ASEE), the Joel and Ruth Spira Outstanding Design Educator Award (ASME), the Benjamin Garver Lamme Award (ASEE) and, together with Harvey Mudd professors Mack Gilkeson and Rich Phillips, the National Academy of Engineering Gordon Prize for creating and disseminating innovations in undergraduate engineering design education for the development of engineering leaders. Upon his retirement from Harvey Mudd in 2012, Dym received an Honorary Alumni Award in recognition of his service to students and to the College. Dym served as chair of the Department of Engineering (1999–2002), recruited the department’s first group of female faculty, expanded the department’s project-based learning experiences and served as director of the Center for Design Education (1995–2012). Dym is survived by family in the United States and Israel, including his wife, Joan Dym; daughters, Jordana Dym (and Scott Mulligan) and Miriam Dym; and his adopted family member, standard poodle Hank.
Community members may leave remembrances of Dym at hmc.edu/remembering-clive-dym.
Physics Professor Jack Waggoner
A 33-year member of the faculty Jack Holmes Waggoner died July 2. He was born in 1929 and was a native of Ohio. He completed his B.S. (1949) and PhD (1957) at Ohio State University. He taught from 1959 to 1961 at the University of California, Riverside, and then was hired to join the Harvey Mudd College faculty as an assistant professor of physics in 1961. Upon receiving tenure and promotion in 1965, Waggoner wrote to President Joe Platt that “working at the College has been both a pleasure and an inspiration—I do indeed look forward to growing with it.” Waggoner taught a variety of courses in physics, including Electromagnetic Waves and Optics, Theoretical Mechanics and a number of laboratory courses. He spent his first sabbatical in 1967–1968 as a visiting associate professor at Caltech, where he studied theoretical physics and observed the Caltech undergraduate physics program. Waggoner retired from Harvey Mudd in 1994 after 33 years on the faculty. Waggoner enjoyed target shooting and archery, collecting model cars and reading biography and history. He assembled an extensive personal library of books on many subjects. He built his own “hi-fi” system so that he could listen to classical music. His wife, Anne, who regularly attended department and College events with Waggoner, died in 2013. They had no children. He is survived by his brother Chandler Waggoner of Indiana.