Newsletter Archives; Winter 2000
Professor Dale Calkins
In Memoria: Professor Dale Calkins
Dale Calkins died on June 29, 1999, following a brief illness. Dale was a member of the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering for twenty years. At the time of his death Professor Calkins was just completing a nine month sabbatical, part of which he spent doing research at the Ford Motor Company.Dale was born in Detroit Michigan on June 5, 1938. Despite a childhood filled with repeated hospital visits, he was always quick with a smile. He attended Catholic schools, graduating from St. Francis de Sales High School in 1956. He continued his education at the University of Detroit, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1961.
After graduation Dale packed up his convertible and headed west to work as a hydrodynamics research engineer for The Boeing Company. He worked for Boeing from 1961 to 1964, performing research on high-speed hydrofoils for military applications. In 1964 he left Boeing to work as a project technical director for the Naval Undersea Center in San Diego, where he had technical cognizance of all hydro/mechanical aspects of the Advanced Marine Vehicle High-Speed Towed Sonar development program. During this period he attended San Diego State University, earning a master's degree in Aerospace Engineering in 1969. After leaving Naval Undersea Center in 1973, Dale was a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1976 he was awarded a Doctor of Engineering degree in Naval Architecture by the University of California.
Dale's academic career began in 1976. After receiving his doctorate he accepted a one-year position as Visiting Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He returned to San Diego in 1977, accepting a position as head of the Ocean Systems Department, Systems Exploration, Inc., in San Diego. Concurrently, he was a lecturer at San Diego State University. In 1979 he left San Diego to accept an appointment as Research Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington. He held this appointment until 1985, when he was appointed an Associate Professor with tenure.
Professor Calkins had a very broad range of professional interests, but will be especially remembered for his contributions in the area of systems design technologies. He was a leader in the application of Computer Aided Design (CAD). He helped develop a freshman level course in design engineering (ENGR 100) which is now an established part of the pre-engineering curriculum. He also developed a graduate course, Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE). Based on an emerging technology, this course covers a design methodology which is rapidly being embraced as the next step beyond CAD. Much of Dale's work in this area was supported by grants from the Ford Motor Company.
Dale Calkins and 1997/98 SAE Car team members.
Dale was the inspiration for and the driving force behind UW involvement in the Formula SAE car competition. The first UW team competed in the 1990 competition. Students participating in this project enroll in a special three-quarter sequence of the Mechanical Engineering classes including the senior level capstone design class (ME 495- Mechanical Engineering Design). During a nine-month period students design, build and test a race car, then compete nationally with other university entrants. This class gives the students the experience of working as part of a team in a project where there are deadlines to be met and goals to be accomplished. The students learn by working in an environment based on system design technologies. Cars built by UW student teams have had outstanding success in the annual SAE Formula Car Competition held in Detroit each year. More importantly, the students have gained valuable knowledge and experience working in a Design/Build team concept. A number of Dale's former SAE students now hold highly regarded positions in the automotive industry.br>
Professor Calkins was also very active in the field of engineering education. He was Co-Principal Investigator on a National Science Foundation grant to develop a common view among four-year and community colleges on the design competencies required of first and second year engineering students in the state of Washington. He was also the first director of the Integrated Learning Factory, a factory floor/learning area combining design and manufacturing functions in a single location. The ILF was an outgrowth of the Manufacturing Education Engineering Partnership (MEEP), an NSF sponsored coalition to provide a practice-based manufacturing oriented engineering curriculum.br>
In 1998 Dale was named the College of Engineering Outstanding Faculty member. Other awards he received included the 1991 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Ralph E. Teetor Educational Award and SAE Distinguished Faculty Advisor Awards in 1993 and 1997.br>
Professor Calkins is remembered by his students as a caring and demanding teacher. He would spare no effort to ensure that they had the knowledge and the tools to solve the problems before them, but he always insisted that they use these to "go and figure it out" for themselves.
He is survived by his wife, Beth, and childern Scott, Jeremy and Kirstie.
To honor Professor Calkins' contributions and to ensure that the work he started is carried on, his family, friends, students and the Department of Mechanical Engineering have established the Dale Calkins Design Fund.
