Junior Scholars Academy (JSA)

Classes Session 2 - June 23-27, 2008

An Introduction to Engineering

Learn about engineering concepts and techniques. Activities will provide students with an in-depth exposure…

to, understanding of, and appreciation for engineering through an engineering design approach to problem solving. During the week students will work on design projects as well as participate in engineering department tours. They will be introduced to and explore specific engineering disciplines.

Instructor

David Wilder is a University of Iowa Faculty member at The Seamans Center for the Engineering Arts and Sciences. He is an Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Associate Professor, Occupational and Environmental Health; Researcher for the Heartland Center for Occupational Health and Safety; Director of the Jolt/Vibration/Seating Laboratory of the Iowa Spine Research Center; an Associate Faculty member of the Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research; and a consultant to WorkSafe Iowa.

Dr. Wilder holds a Ph.D. M.S., and B.S., all in Mechanical Engineering, from University of Vermont. He has been with the University of Iowa College Engineering since 1994.

The philosophy upon which David Wilder has based his career is that the interaction between people and machines can be optimized based on understanding human limitations. Starting as an engineering student in the Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation, in the College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, he has conducted his research, teaching and service activities with the goal of informing designers and users of machines and workplaces of human limitations. He has disseminated insight about human sensitivity to the combined effects of vibration and posture via scholarly publications and presentations, consulting in key areas, and standards development. He monitors improvements in workplaces as he speaks to chronic back pain patients monthly at the University of Iowa’s Back Care clinic. While he hasn’t been the designer of seating and isolation systems, he has informed those designers of the seated person’s mechanical sensitivity to the combination of posture, vibration, and impact. If one listens to truck drivers or heavy equipment operators, one hears stories about how vehicle ride has improved over the past 15 years. After one of his presentations on the way the lumbar spine works in a seated, vibration environment, (at a major car manufacturer) David Wilder was told he had presented the first new information on human response that had been heard in 20 years. He also helped a container shipping facility specify improvements in the design of terminal tractors. One manufacturer, recognizing the value of those recommendations, adopted them, and at a relatively small, one-time cost, was able to create a popular new model that the drivers preferred at that and other facilities.

He has also been called upon to evaluate environments where the human-machine interaction has been problematic: train and subway operation, heavy equipment operation in mines and quarries, helicopter and fighter jet operation, terminal tractor operation, city bus operation, lift-truck operation, and skiing.