Chris McMahon's Home Page

Introduction

Chris is Professor of Engineering Design in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bath, which he joined in 2002 from the University of Bristol. In his early career as an engineer he worked in the railway industry and with a consulting engineering company specialising in IC engines. He teaches and researches in engineering design and computer-aided design. He is interested in many aspects of design and computing, in particular how computer aids can assist design in the organisation and management of the information used in design.

Teaching

Chris is part of the team responsible for design teaching in the Department, and he teaches the following courses:

• 1st year Design - design methods and contribution to design practical classes
• 2nd year Design - design methods and contribution to design practical classes
• ME30294 - Product Design and Development - the product development process, strategic aspects, cultural aspects, knowledge management

External to the University, Chris is President of the Design Society, and a member of the executive of its Design Education Special Interest Group, that part of the organisation concerned with design teaching and training. Chris has been involved in organisation of the annual Engineering and Product Design Education Conferences held at various locations since 2000 - the latest being Brighton in 2009 and Trondheim in 2020.

Chris is co-author of a textbook on CADCAM, "CADCAM: Principles, Practice and Manufacturing Management", the 2nd edition of which was published by Addison-Wesley in 1998

Research Interests

Chris is Engineering Director of the University of Bath's Innovative design and Manufacturing Research Centre, and was Principal Investigator of the EPSRC Grand Challenge project in through-life information and knowledge management for product-service systems. Chris's other research interests are predominantly concerned with the application of computers to all aspects of engineering design, including:

1. the organisation and delivery of design knowledge and information using databases, multimedia and knowledge-based systems;
2. the use of computers for probabilistic design analysis and design optimisation;
3. data structures for computer-aided design and manufacture, especially feature-based models to support multiple design viewpoints;
4. application of finite element analysis to manufacturing process simulation including wire drawing and residual stresses in forged components;
5. the information requirements of engineering designers;
6. risk and uncerainty in engineering design;
7. errors and re-work in design, and metrics and measurements of quality in design;
8. design theory and methodology to support all of the above topics.

As noted above Chris is President and member of the the Board of Management of the Design Society, and through that Society has been involved in the organisation of a number of ICED conferences, including 2009's in Stanford, California, and the 2011 event to be held in Copenhagen. Chris is also Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Co-chair of IFIP WG5.1, responsible for organisation of the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) series of conferences.

Contact Chris using c.a.mcmahon @ bath.ac.uk

Maintained by Chris McMahon.  Please send me suggestions for additions or updates, or information about missing links.

Last updated 25 May 2011