Join us for a User Experience Design Presidential Dream Course Lecture with Dr. Diana Bairaktarova. Dr. Bairaktarova is a previous faculty member of AME and is currently an Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech in the College of Engineering’s Department of Engineering Education. Her seminar is titled, The User Experience Evolution: Empathy in Engineering Design Practice. The seminar is Thursday, October 29, 2015 at 9:00am in the Hitachi Conference Room, 214 Felgar Hall. The lecture is open to the public.

Abstract: Understanding user needs and customer preferences is critical to the design process. The engineering design community has produced various models, techniques, and approaches to build creative understanding of user’s experiences for new product development. Implemented within industry and academia, these methods prove to be impactful as they have been shown to influence market capture and product similarity.

Bio: Dr. Diana Bairaktarova is an Assistant Professor in the College of Engineering, Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. Dr. Bairaktarova completed her Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University. She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Technical University in Sofia, Bulgaria and an M.B.A. degree from the Hamline School of Business, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Dr. Bairaktarova has over a decade of experience working as a Design Engineer. Her research focuses on human learning and engineering, i.e. understanding how individual differences and aptitudes effect interaction with mechanical objects in engineering education instruction and how engineering students’ personality traits influence decision-making process in engineering design. 

For more information about Dr. Bairaktarova or the User Experience Design Presidential Dream Course Lecture Series, please click here.

For accommodations on the basis of disability, please contact Danielle Geier (405) 325-1715 or dgeier@ou.edu.

Join us for this week’s User Experience Design Presidential Dream Course Lecture with Carolyn Seepersad. Dr. Seepersad is an Associate Professor and General Dynamics Faculty Fellow of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. The seminar is Tuesday, October 27, 2015 at 9:00am in the Hitachi Conference Room, 214 Felgar Hall. The lecture is open to the public.

Dr. Seepersad’s Bio:

Carolyn Conner Seepersad is an Associate Professor and General Dynamics Faculty Fellow of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. She received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2004, an M.A. and B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University in 1998 and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University in 1996. She is a former Rhodes Scholar, Hertz Fellow, and NSF Graduate Fellow.

Dr. Seepersad’s research involves the development of methods and computational tools for engineering design and additive manufacturing. Her research interests include simulation-based design of complex systems and materials, design for additive manufacturing, innovation and environmentally conscious design of products and energy systems.

In 2009, Dr. Seepersad was the inaugural recipient of the International Outstanding Young Researcher Award in Freeform and Additive Manufacturing from the additive manufacturing community. In 2010, she received the University of Texas Regents’ and Dean’s Awards for Outstanding Teaching by an Assistant Professor; the Regents’ award is the highest teaching award for faculty in The University of Texas System. Dr. Seepersad is the recipient of a Best Paper Award for the 2009 ASME Design Theory and Methodology Conference and two best paper awards for the 2010 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition. She is also the author of more than 70 peer-reviewed conference and journal publications and one book. She annually organizes a DAC special session on Design of Multiscale Engineering Systems, and she co-organizes the annual Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium.

For more information about Dr. Seepersad or the User Experience Design Presidential Dream Course Lecture Series, please click here.

For accommodations on the basis of disability, please contact Danielle Geier (405) 325-1715 or dgeier@ou.edu 

Join us for this week’s User Experience Design Presidential Dream Course Lecture with Geoff Parker. Mr. Parker is an Architect and Adjunct Instructor at OU’s College of Architecture. The seminar is Thursday, October 8, 2015 at 9:00am in the Hitachi Conference Room, 214 Felgar Hall. The lecture is open to the public.

Mr. Geoff Parker’s Bio: 

Geoff Parker is a licensed architect with over 14 years of experience. During his career, Mr. Parker has designed and worked on a wide range of projects including single family residences, restaurants, retail centers, multifamily residential projects, commercial office buildings and master planning projects. Additionally, Geoff has taught for eight years as an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Oklahoma’s College of Architecture, teaching first, second and third year design studios. Geoff received the Outstanding Adjunct Award from the College of Architecture in 2014. Mr. Parker specializes in conceptual and schematic design, employing a hybrid of manual techniques and computer applications to produce high quality contextual designs and unique architectural graphics. Geoff’s drawing skills have been widely recognized locally with over thirty different illustrations published in magazines and newspapers. His work has also been recognized nationally in Architectural Record Magazine, receiving an award of merit in the Cocktail Napkin Sketch Competition in 2010 and also receiving the overall professional winner honors in the 2012 competition. Mr. Parker has sold hundreds of custom sketches and works of art to clients all over the country.

For more information about Mr. Parker or the User Experience Design Presidential Dream Course Lecture Series, please click here.

For accommodations on the basis of disability, please contact Danielle Geier (405) 325-1715 or dgeier@ou.edu