• Biography

Curriculum Vitae of Dr. Suh, Nam Pyo

Citizenship U.S.

Current Positions

President, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology(KAIST)

Previous Positions

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

2006 (July) - Jan 2008 On leave from MIT

1991 - 2001 Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering

1990 - 1999 Director, Manufacturing Institute

2005 - 2006 Director, Park Center for Complex Systems

1989 - 2006 The Ralph E. & Eloise F. Cross Professor of Manufacturing

1977 - 1984 Founding Director, Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity

1973 - 1984 Founder and Director, MIT-Industry Polymer Processing Program

1979 - 1984 Member, Engineering Council, MIT

1975 - 1977 Head, Mechanics and Materials Division, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

1975 - Professor of Mechanical Engineering

1973 - Tenured Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

1970 - Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C.

1984 - 1988 Assistant Director for Engineering (President Reagan’s Appointee).

University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.

1968 - 69 Associate Professor of Engineering.

1965 - 68 Assistant Professor of Engineering.

USM Corporation, Beverly, MA.

1961 - 65 Senior Research Engineer and Project Manager (1962-63 at CMU).

Guild Plastics, Inc., Cambridge, MA.

1958 - 60 Development Engineer (half-time during academic year, full-time in summer).

Education & Related

1955 Buckingham, Browne and Nichols School, Cambridge,MA.

1959 S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.

1961 S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.

1964 Ph.D., Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.

Honorary doctorates

1986 Eng. D. (Hon.), Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA.

1988 L.H.D. (Hon.), University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Lowell, MA.

2000 Tekn.Dr. hc, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

2007 D. Eng honoris causa, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

2007 Doctor Scientiarum Honoris Causa, the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Israel

2008 Doctor of Science and Technology (Hon), Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

2009 Doctor Honoris Causa, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Rumania

Honors and Awards

Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award of ASME and Pi Tau Sigma for pioneering work in the field of tribology: the Delamination Theory of Wear, 1976.
Blackall Award of ASME for the Solution Wear Theory (with B. M. Kramer), 1982
SPE Award for Contribution in Tribology of Polymers (with J. R. Youn), 1981.
Citation Classic by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) as one of the most quoted papers, "The Delamination Theory of Wear", 1979.
Fellow, CIRP (Collége International pour l'Etude Scientifique des Techniques de Production Mécanique, also known as International Academy for Production Engineering), 1978.
Selected by USM Corporation for company sponsored graduate study (with full pay) at Carnegie Mellon University, 1962
Who's Who in America. Who's Who in Science and Technology.
Special edition of Wear journal, devoted to the work of Suh and coworkers, 1977
Presidential Appointment by President Ronal Reagan to the National Science Fourndation, 1984.
The F. W. Taylor Research Award, Society of Manufacturing Engineers,1986.
Honorary Doctor of Engineering Degree, Worcester Polytechnic Institute,1986.
Pi Tau Sigma. Phi Kappa Phi.
Sigma Xi.
Life Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA, 1988.
Distinguished Service Award, NSF, 1988.
Federal Engineer of the Year, NSF, National Society of Professional Engineers, 1987.
Foreign member, The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science (IVA), 1988
Ralph E. & Eloise F. Cross Professor, MIT, 1989.
Centennial Medallion of American Society for Engineering Education, 1993.
William T. Ennor Manufacturing Technology Award, ASME, 1993
The Best Tribology Paper Award (with D. E. Kim), ASME, 1993
Scholarly Achievement Award, KBS, 1995.
Life member, The Korean Academy of Science and Technology, 1995
The 1997 Ho-Am Prize for Engineering, Ho-Am Committee, 1997
Honorary Doctor (Tekn.Hedersdoktor), Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, 2000
The Mensforth International Gold Medal, The Institution of Electrical Engineers, United Kingdom, March 15, 2001
The Hills Millennium Award of the Institution of Engineering Designers of the United Kingdom (First recipient), June 4, 2001
Who’s Who in The World
Honorary Professor and The William Mong Lecturer/Fellow, The University of Hong Kong, 2003
Fellow, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, 2004
Honorary Advisory Professor, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China, 2005
Product of the Year award, for the Woven Connector (Low R) presented at the Power Electronics Technology conference, Baltimore, Tuesday, October 25, 2005.
The Academy Gold Medal of Honor, The Academy of Transdisciplinary Learning and Advanced Studies (Society for Design and Process Science), June 26, 2006.A
The General Nicolau Award, The highest award of CIRP (Collége International pour l'Etude Scientifique des Techniques de Production Mécanique, also known as International Academy for Production Engineering), 2006
President, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 2006.
Doctor of Engineering honoris causa, The University of Queensland, Australia, May 2007
Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of Plastics Engineers, May 2007.
Doctor Scientiarum Honoris Causa, the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Israel, June 2007.
Fellow, University of Tokyo, 2007
Doctor of Science and Technology (Hon), Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 2008
Top ten leaders of Korea in 2007, named by Leaderpia magazine,December 2007 (Hunet)
KAIST received the highest award from the President of Korea for its contributions.
Foreign member, National Academy of Engineering of Korea,2008
Poly Chung Innovation Award, Pony Chung Foundation, 2008
Distinguished Alumni Award, Carnegie Mellon University, 2008
Inchon Prize (Education), (인촌상) Inchon Memorial Foundation, 2008
“Proud Korean” award (자랑스런한국인댸상) for educational contributions by the Korea Association of Journalists (한국언로인연합회), 2008.
Doctor Honoria Causa, Babes-Bolyai University, Rumania, 2009

Publications

Over 300 scholarly papers on topics such as:

- Axiomatic design principles and methodologies

- Complexity theory

- Functional periodicity

- Delamination theory of wear.

- Solution wear theory

- Friction space and friction theory

- Reaction injection molding.

- Solid state forming.

- Mixalloy process.

- Engineering education

- Microcellular Plastics

- R&D policy

Books:

a) Elements of the Mechanical Behavior of Solids (with A.P.L. Turner), McGraw-Hill, 1975.

b) The Delamination Theory of Wear, Elsevier, 1977

c) Tribophysics, Prentice-Hall, 1986. (Translated into Chinese)

d) The Principles of Design, Oxford University Press, 1990. (Translated into Japanese and Korean)

e) Axiomatic Design: Advances and Applications, Oxford University Press, 2001
(Translated into Chinese and Korean)

f) Complexity: Theory and Applications, Oxford University Press, 2005

g) Axiomatic Design and Fabrication of Composite Structures, (With Dai Gil Lee)
Oxford University Press, 2006

Edited Books:

a) Fundamentals of Tribology (with N. Saka), MIT Press, 1980.

b) Science and Technology of Polymer Processing (with N. Sung), MIT Press, 1979.

c) University/Industry Cooperation, NSF publication, 1982 (with B. M. Kramer).

d) Manufacturing Engineering, (In manuscript form, Principal Author & Editor).

Patents

More than 60 U.S. patents (and many foreign patents)

Some of the important patents include:

Electrostatic charge decay NDE technique (Product of QEA, Inc., Burlington, MA).
Method for making laminated plastic molded parts (product of Sweetheart Plastics).
Tough plastics.
Electrostatic mixing apparatus.
Mixalloys.(Trademark of Sutek Corp).
Minute moisture measuring system for polymers (Trademark– Axiometer).
Low-energy solvent separation using spinodal decomposition.
Microcellular plastics (Commercial trademark – MuCell, Trexel, Inc).
Axiomatic design software (Trademark – Acclaro, Axiomatic Design Software, Inc).
Electrical connectors (Tribotek, Inc., now by Methode Electronics, Inc.).

Other Professional Activities

A. Current

President, ABEEK, Korea
Chairman, New Economic Growth Engine Planning Team, Ministry of Knowledge and Economy
Founder, Trexel, Inc. (formerly Axiomatics Corporation), Woburn, MA.
Founder and Member of the Board of Directors, Axiomatic Design Software, Inc., Boston, MA.
Member of the Board of Directors, Integrated Device Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA.
Member of the Board of Directors, Parker Vision, Inc., Jacksonville, FL.
Series Editor, Advanced Manufacturing Engineering Series, Oxford University Press.
Editor, MIT/Pappalardo Series of Mechanical Engineering Books, Oxford University Press.
Consultant, Pharos (Levitronix), Inc.
Member of editorial board of the following journals, among others:

Polymer Processing Engineering
International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology
Research in Engineering Design
Advanced Manufacturing Processes
Journal of Manufacturing Systems
Journal of Design manufacturing
Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing

B. Past

Co-Founder and Member of the Board of Directors, Tribotek, Inc., Burlington, MA.(Technology is now acquired by Methode Electronics, Inc.)
Visiting Faculty (part-time), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
Member, Strategy Panel on Global War on Terrorism, Department of Defense.
Member, Advisory Council Member, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.
Member of the Board of Directors (Chairman of Tech. Adv. Comm.), Silicon Valley Group, Inc., San Jose, CA.
Member of the Board of Directors, Integrated Circuit Systems, Inc., Valley Forge, PA.
Member of the Board of Directors, Therma Wave, Inc., Fremont, CA.
Co-Editor-in-Chief, Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, an international journal.
Founder and Chairman of the Board, Sutek Corporation (formerly Mixalloy Corporation), Hudson, MA.
Member, Technical Advisory Committee, Alcan Aluminum Corporation, Cambridge, MA.
Visiting committee member of the following mechanical engineering departments, Texas A&M University, Stanford University, University of Michigan, and the University of California at Berkeley.
Chief Technical Advisor, United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
Consultant, World Bank. (Created the 1980-85 Five-Year Economic Development Plan of Republic of Korea).
Member of the board, Surftech Corporation, Nashua, NH.
Consultant to many corporations throughout the world, including Ford, Mercedes Benz, Lockheed Martin, Alcoa, among others.
Member of the Scientific and Technical Board, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory.
Member of the NRC Panel for the National Engineering Laboratory.
Member of the Visiting Committee (Statutory) on Advanced Technology, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce, 1991-1994.
Member of the Advisory Committee, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Chairman, the Overseas Advisory Committee, the BK 21 Program, Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea.
CIRP (STC Design, Chairman).
Member of a Research Award Committee of ASEE.
ENDREA Program, Scientific Committee, Sweden.
Review Panel, Kplus Center Program, Austria.
Visiting Faculty, University of Tokyo and Yonsei University.
The William Mong Distinguished Fellow, University of Hong Kong, 2002.

Other Accomplishments

Dr. Suh is the creator of the axiomatic design theory. The theory and methodology for design have been adopted by many industrial firms and taught at many universities and industrial firms throughout the world. The axiomatic design principles have been used to create new materials, products, processes, systems, software, and organizations. He taught a large number of industrial engineers, including automotive companies, aerospace companies, and defense industries. He has received many awards and honors for this work.
He also advanced a complexity theory and the concept of Functional Periodicity for the creation of stable systems. He has given many plenary lectures at international conferences on complexity theory and axiomatic design theory.
He has made major contributions in the field of tribology by advancing theories and practical solutions: the delamination theory of wear, solution wear, genesis of friction, undulated surfaces, electrical connectors, and others. He won many awards and honors for this work.
Innovative electrical connector design, commercialized by Tribotek, Inc., was recognized as the product of the year by Power Electronics Technology magazine, in 2005.
In 1973, Professor Suh established the first university/industry cooperative research program at MIT known as the MIT-Industry Polymer Processing Program, which became a model in establishing similar programs at many other universities by NSF and in formulating the Stevenson-Wydler Innovation Act of 1981 by U. S. Congress. He has also created many polymer-processing techniques, in addition to generating many of the leading academics in the field of polymer processing. He has received many patents in polymer processing and related fields.
Among the many new materials, products and manufacturing processes invented by him are: Microcellular plastics (known as MuCell and used commercially worldwide), Mixalloy, USM high pressure foam molding technology (used world wide), electrostatic charge-decay NDE technique, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, Low R electrical connectors, low friction surfaces, and foam/straight plastic lamination process (a major industrial product). Many of these have been commercialized.
The MIT Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity (of which Professor Suh was the founder and first Director until his NSF appointment) became one of the world's largest and most successful laboratories of its kind.
His inventions have become the basis for several successful commercial and industrial technologies. He founded several companies based on these technologies. Microcellular plastics are widely used worldwide (tradename: MuCell, Trexel, Inc.). Woven electrical connectors are an award winning disruptive technology, marketed by Tribotek, Inc. Software that are used in design, Acclaro, is a product of Axiomatic Design Solutions, Inc. Mixalloy was successfully developed and commercialized by Sutek, Inc.
Professor Suh has supervised approximately 50 PhDs and 70 SMs in the fields of materials processing, mechanical engineering, tribology, design, and manufacturing. His former students now number among the most promising educators and industrial engineers in the world
He was the principal architect of the highly successful Five-Year Economic Plan of Korea for the Period 1980 --1985.
Upon his appointment to the National Science Foundation by President Reagan, Dr. Suh instituted new structure and policies for engineering education and research to prepare for a new era. His plans received strong endorsements from U.S. Congress and the Administration. Many distinguished researchers and educators joined him at NSF to implement the new programs for engineering education and research. Dr. Suh created programs for design theory and methodology, biotechnology, computer-integrated engineering, emerging technologies, critical technologies, the Engineering Research Centers, Expedited Grants for Novel Research, Creativity Grants, and the University-Industry-Government Cooperative Program for engineering education. For his contributions, he received the Distinguished Service Award of the National Science Foundation.
As the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, Professor Suh worked with his colleagues to elevate the already highest ranked department to a higher level of excellence by establishing clear macro-strategic goals and carefully developing and implementing programs and activities to achieve these goals. He established the following goals, which were achieved during his tenure as Department Head:

Transformation of the mechanical engineering field from a discipline primarily based on physics to a discipline based on physics, information and biology.
Concentration of the two ends (rather than the middle) of the research spectrum- basic research and technology innovation - where the impact on knowledge base and society is the largest.
Improvement of undergraduate education by providing a right context for learning, integrating engineering science subjects, providing hands-on experience in design and manufacturing, and simultaneously teaching design and analysis in all subjects.
Emphasis on interdisciplinary research at the interface between traditional mechanical engineering and information, biology, and energy, which have resulted in the creation of the d’Arbeloff Laboratory for Information Systems, the Laboratory for BioInstrumentation, Hatosopoulos Microfluids Laboratory, Auto ID center, and the Laboratory for 21st Century Energy. Thanks to his efforts, the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering has some of the finest teaching and research laboratories in the world.

The educational goal of the Department is to prepare MIT students for leadership in their chosen fields. To achieve this goal, an innovative undergraduate curriculum was adopted. This curriculum incorporates many new ideas and pedagogical innovations. The BJ and Chunghi Park Lecture Halls were created to enable a “self-discovery” form of learning, as well as more traditional forms of lecturing. He also raised a substantial sum of money from MIT alumni/ae and industrial corporations to renovate and endow undergraduate teaching laboratories and to establish endowed senior and junior faculty chairs. Also to encourage and support faculty efforts in teaching-materials development, an endowment fund for book-writing was created. Oxford University Press through its MIT/Pappalardo Series of Mechanical Engineering Books will publish the books written with the support of this endowment fund.

Professor Suh also established the Manufacturing Institute at MIT to provide an educational mechanism for teaching engineering systems and to strengthen the interaction between MIT and industry, by conducting industrially funded research in the field of large systems and by creating more effective technology transfer mechanisms. His major achievement as Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department was the hiring of the brightest young professors from many fields – mechanical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, physics, and optics -- who had already become leaders in their respective fields. Nearly 40% of the department faculty of 60 were hired during his tenure.

Professional Societies

American Society of Mechanical Engineers (Life Fellow; Chairman, Productivity Committee, 1982-84).
American Society for Engineering Education.
International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP) (Fellow; Former Chairman: Design STC).
Society of Plastics Engineers.
Society of Manufacturing Engineers (Fellow).
Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (Foreign Member).
Korean Academy of Science and Technology (Life Fellow).
National Academy of Engineering, Korea (Foreign member)
American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Personal

He was born in Korea on April 22, 1936, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1954 to join his father who was teaching at Harvard University. He completed his high school education at Browne & Nichols School before entering MIT as a freshman in 1955. He was naturalized in 1963 in Pittsburgh, PA. Nam P. Suh is married to Young J. Suh (née Surh). They have four daughters, four sons-in-law, and six grandchildren. (October 2008)