A Pedagogical Model to Educate Tomorrow's Engineers through a Cloud-based Design and Manufacturing Infrastructure - Motivation, Infrastructure, Pedagogy, and Applications

Prof. Dirk Schaefer serves on the faculty of the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, Dr. Schaefer was a Lecturer in the School of Engineering at Durham University, UK. During his time at Durham, he earned a Postgraduate Certificate in ”Teaching and Learning in Higher Education”. He joined Durham from a Senior Research Associate position at Stuttgart University, Germany, where he earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science. Over the past 15 years, Dr. Schaefer has conducted research on product modeling, variant design, product lifecycle management, design-with-manufacture integration, standardized product data exchange, as well as digital and virtual engineering. His current research focus concerns the highly topical area of Cloudbased Design and Manufacturing (CBDM). A passionate educator, Dr. Schaefer also conducts research on Design Education, Personalized Learning, Distance Learning, and Professional Faculty Development. He has published more than 120 technical papers on Computer-Aided Engineering & Design as well as Engineering Education, and has presented his work at numerous national and international conferences, symposia, and workshops around the world. Dr. Schaefer serves as editorial advisory board member and reviewer for several international journals in his field. In addition, he is a registered Professional Engineer in Europe (Eur Ing), a Chartered Engineering (CEng), a Chartered IT Professional (CITP), and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in the UK, as well as registered International Engineering Educator (Ing-Paed IGIP).