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Contact Information

Status: Asst. Professor, Mechanical Engineering                               

 

Primary Office/Address (Savannah Campus):

The George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology Savannah (GTS)
210 Technology Circle
Savannah, Georgia 31407-3039, USA

Office: Building PARB, Room 218

Phone: +1 (912) 966-7946
Fax:    +1 (912) 966-7928
Email:  
dirk.schaefer@me.gatech.edu
URL:   http://www.gtsav.gatech.edu/me/faculty/schaefer.html

 

Assistant:

 

Secondary Office/Address (Atlanta Campus):

The George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
813 Ferst Drive, NW
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0405, USA

Office: MaRC (Manufacturing Research Center), Room 259

Phone: +1 (404) 894-3256
Fax:    +1 (404) 894-9324 
Email:  
dirk.schaefer@me.gatech.edu
URL:    http://www.me.gatech.edu/faculty/schaefer.shtml

 

Assistant: Stephanie Merrick
Tel. +1 (404) 894-0413 - Email: stephanie.merrick@me.gatech.edu

 

 

 

 

 

Research Interests

Main areas

  • Computer-aided Engineering and Design
  • Information Engineering for Complex Engineered Systems
  • Virtual Engineering and Digital Enterprise Technology
  • Systems Integration
  • Engineering Education

 

Dr. Schaefer has experience in Research and Development on the boundaries between Engineering and Information Technology principles. Long standing work has mainly addressed product modeling, variant design technology, product life-cycle management, interdisciplinary ECAD-to-MCAD integration, design-with-manufacture integration, standardized product data exchange, and knowledge management. His current research focus is on Virtual Engineering, Digital Enterprise Technology and Systems Integration.  

 

Biography

Dr. Dirk Schaefer is an Asst. Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, Dr. Schaefer was a Lecturer in the School of Engineering at Durham University, UK. During his time at Durham, he earned a Postgraduate Certificate in "Teaching and Learning in Higher Education" (PG-Cert). He joined Durham from a Senior Research Associate position at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, where he earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science. Dr. Schaefer also held positions as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Computer Science at the University of Applied Sciences in Aalen, and as a Lecturer in Computer Science at two private IT Academies in Esslingen and Dresden. In addition, he was the Managing Director of an IT consulting firm which he founded in 1999. Dr. Schaefer started his career as an apprentice Toolmaker with one of Germany’s leading metal forming companies, where he specialized in CNC machining and the manufacture of compound tool sets for knuckle joint presses. On completion of his apprenticeship he went on to obtain an Advanced Technical College Certificate in Mechanical Engineering and followed this with a Masters degree in Mathematics from the University of Duisburg, Germany. Prior to working in academia Dr. Schaefer gained experience as a Software Engineer in the area of CAD system development.

 

Dr. Schaefer has published around 70 papers in journals, books and conference proceedings on Computer-Aided Engineering and Design as well as Engineering Education. He has presented his work at numerous international meetings, regularly organizes an international conference on ECAD/ECAE Technology and serves on scientific program committees. Dr. Schaefer is a member of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), The Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE), The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), The American Mathematical Society (AMS), The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), The European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), The Institution of Engineering Designers (IED), The British Computer Society (BCS), The European Mathematical Society (EMS), The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), The German Association of Computer Scientists (GI), The German Association of Engineers (VDI) and The Association of German Mathematicians (DMV). Dr. Schaefer is also a registered professional European Engineer (Eur Ing), a Chartered Engineer (CEng), a Chartered IT-Professional (CITP) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in the UK. In addition, Dr. Schaefer is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of IJEE, the International Journal of Engineering Education, and the Program Chair of the ASME/IDETC 2009 6th Symposium on International Design & Design Education to be held in San Diego, CA.

 

Publications

Please note: For publications in German language translated titles are added in brackets.

Journal Articles

Books Authored

Books Edited

Book Chapters

  • [5] Cheung, W.M., Yarrow, G.F.Y. and D. Schaefer (2010): “Product Lifecycle Management: State-of-the-art and Future Perspectives”, In: M.M. Cruz-Cunha (Eds), Enterprise Information Systems for Business Integration in SMEs: Technological, Organizational and Social Dimensions, (Advances in Information Management book series), Poltechnic Institute of Cavado and Ave, 4750, Barcelos, Portugal, under review
  • [4] Chen, K.K., Bankston, J.M., Panchal, J.H. and D. Schaefer (2009): “A Framework For The Integrated Design of Mechatronic Products”, In: Wang, L. and A.Y.C. Nee. (Eds.), Collaborative Design and Planning for Digital Manufacturing, Springer, in print
  • [3] Roller, D., Eck, O., Rieg, B. and D. Schaefer (2002): “Representation and Conversion of Dimension Units in CAD Data Models”, In: Cugini, U.,  Wozny, M. (Eds.), From Knowledge Intensive CAD to Knowledge Intensive Engineering, Series: IFIP International Federation for Information Processing, Kluwer Academic Publishers, ISBN 0792376196, pp. 91-102
  • [2] Roller, D. and D. Schaefer (2000): “Variant Design in Electrical Engineering - An Extension of Parametric Modeling”, In: Brunet, P., Hoffmann, C., Roller, D. (Eds.), CAD - Tools and Algorithms for Product Design. Berlin, Springer. ISBN 3-540-66204-9, pp. 233-250
  • [1] Schaefer, D. and D. Roller (1999): “Software- und Systementwicklung fuer technische Anwendungen [“Software development in respect to industrial engineering applications”], In: Computer Graphik Markt 1999/2000. 1. Auflage. Heidelberg: Dressler-Verlag, ISBN 3 79 831503 pp. II- 2-9

Refereed Conference Papers