The campus community is invited to a talk on “Engineering +: Unusual Educational Collaborations” on Thursday, April 7. The event begins at noon in the O’Shaughnessy Room of the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library Center.
Dr. AnnMarie Thomas
This Noon Conversation in the Library features Dr. AnnMarie Thomas, assistant professor, Engineering Department. She will note how some UST engineering classes have ventured away from the typical lecture hall and have collaborated with groups off campus to enrich the course material. Examples will include collaboration between freshman design students and the Diavolo dance company, dynamics students and Circus Juventas, and toy design students and the UST Child Development Center. Participants will have the chance to learn about the benefits and challenges of such projects.
The circus meets engineering meets Dr. AnnMarie Thomas. / Photo by Mike Ekern.
Thomas joined the faculty of the University of St. Thomas in fall 2006. Previously, she was a faculty member at Art Center College of Design. She enjoys looking at both the playful side of engineering (squishy circuits for students, the science of circus, toy design) and ways to use engineering design to help others (projects in technology design for older adults).
Thomas is co-director of the University of St. Thomas Center for Pre-Collegiate Engineering Education (CPCEE). She has taught Engineering Graphics, Machine Design, Dynamics (with circus lab), Toy Design, Product Design for an Aging Population, and “Brain Machine Interfaces” (seminar). She also has worked on underwater robotics at MIT, Caltech and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, specializing in biologically inspired propulsion. Her S.B. degree is in ocean engineering, with a minor in music from MIT; her doctorate is in mechanical engineering from Caltech.
Bring a lunch – light refreshments will be provided.
