Clive Dym

Renowned Engineering Educator, Prolific Scholar, Mentor

July 15, 1942–May 3, 2016

Harvey Mudd College engineering Professor Emeritus Clive L. Dym passed away during the early morning hours of May 3, 2016.

Dym joined Harvey Mudd in 1991 as the inaugural holder of the Fletcher Jones Design Chair, where he developed innovative strategies and paradigms that transformed design education in the United States and around the world. Dym believed design was the distinguishing activity of the engineer, an activity that he viewed as central to creative thinking, problem solving and decision making. Dym developed a framework for teaching design that rejected the notion that students required a foundation of engineering science before their engagement in design and brought formal design education to the freshman curriculum. One of his most innovative contributions resulted in design thinking and exercises within the team environment, where diversity of thought and experience combined to produce the desired outcomes. Dym wrote extensively about design, how to think about design and why design thinking was so critical to effective decision making.

Through his passion for design engagement, Dym created a community of scholars interested in design education and created a biennial program of workshops—now named in his honor as the Clive L. Dym Mudd Design Workshops—that brought together educators, practitioners and researchers to discuss issues in design and engineering education.

Prior to joining the College, Dym was renowned for his contributions in the fields of applied mechanics and artificial intelligence. He was an expert in the areas of solid mechanics, applied elasticity, stability formulations, and in the performance of plates and shells where he used energy formulations to develop simplified methods for the analysis of complex structures. His interests then shifted to expert systems, computer-aided engineering and the idea that artificial intelligence could lead to enhanced knowledge acquisition and decision making. Dym was a prolific writer, authoring and co-authoring hundreds of referred journal articles, proceedings, technical reports, as well as 13 books.

Dym’s contributions brought a multitude of recognition awards and prizes, including the Walter L. Huber Research Prize (ASCE), the Fred Merryfield Design Award (ASEE), the Joel and Ruth Spira Outstanding Design Educator Award (ASME), the Benjamin Garver Lamme Award (ASEE) and, together with Harvey Mudd professors Mack Gilkeson and Rich Phillips, the National Academy of Engineering Gordon Prize for creating and disseminating innovations in undergraduate engineering design education for the development of engineering leaders. Upon his retirement from Harvey Mudd in 2012, Dym received an Honorary Alumni Award in recognition of his service to students and to the College.

A graduate of Cooper Union, New York City (BCE, 1962), Brooklyn Polytechnic Institution (M.S., 1964) and Stanford (PhD, 1967), Dym held appointments at the University at Buffalo; the Institute for Defense Analyses; Carnegie Mellon University; Bolt, Beranek and Newman; and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he was also head of his department (1977–1985). Before retiring from Harvey Mudd (1991–2012), he served as chair of the Department of Engineering (1999–2002), recruited the department’s first group of female faculty, expanded the department’s project-based learning experiences and served as director of the Center for Design Education (1995–2012). During his tenure as engineering design professor (1991–2012), he held visiting appointments at the TECHNION-Israel Institute of Technology, the Institute for Sound and Vibration Research at Southampton, Stanford, Xerox PARC, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern and USC.

Clive Dym was the second son of Isaac and Anna Dym. He is survived by family in the United States and Israel, including his wife, Joan Dym; daughters, Jordana Dym (and Scott Mulligan) and Miriam Dym; brother, Harry (and Irene) Dym; nephews David and Michael Dym and families; stepsons, Matthew (and Cindy) Anderson and Ryan (and Dina) Anderson; grandchildren, August Dym Noë, Ulysses Dym Noë, Courtney Anderson, Lauren Anderson, Katerina Anderson and Michael Anderson; and his adopted family member, standard poodle Hank.

DR Y M Ghugal, India

AS a researcher in the field of Solid Mechanics

He has excellently written the Solid Mechanics book which I am referring for my research work. He is a very outstanding teacher.

Elizabeth Johansen '01

Student

As an engineer in class of 2001, I was interested in a class more focused on product design because I had set my sights on a job at IDEO. Prof Dym and Prof Little created an independent study opportunity for me in which I helped design a device to help a disabled child in the Claremont community. This experience really set the entire course for my career. I scored that job at IDEO, and now I am using the product design skills I started to learn during the independent study to design affordable medical devices to benefit communities in developing countries. My first product launch is Design that Matters’ Firefly newborn phototherapy which has now treated over 100,000 newborns. The impact this device has had is partly due to the impact Prof Dym and Little had on me at that early stage.

Paul Steinberg

Colleague

Clive and I met by chance in the cafeteria one day soon after my arrival at Harvey Mudd in 2003, and decided to lunch together. We observed with some humor how easy it is for new faculty, and those near retirement, to ignore one another. In the ensuing years, we developed a friendship that filled me with admiration. Whether whipping me at poker, offering advice on how to work with publishers, or sharing his wonderfully dry sense of humor, Clive was always a joy to be around.

Mack Gilkeson

Colleague in engineering department

As an emeritus prof of engineering, I came to know Clive through our joint interest in improving the teaching of engineering design, particularly through the Engineering Clinic. As it developed, Clive, Rich Phillips, earlier T. T. Woodson, and I became deeply involved in preparing an application for the National Academy of Engineering prestigious Gordon prize. Ultimate success in gaining for HMC the 2014 prize was principally due to Clive’s skill in marshaling data and especially in employing his writing skills. A major figure in the continuing development of HMC.

Jeff Groves

Colleague and friend

Clive was a good colleague and a dear friend. I admired so many things about Clive:
–His willingness to argue a position, but also his ability to reflect on that argument and change his mind if that were warranted.
–His love of travel and interest in the world around him.
–His inherently collaborative nature. In particular, I had the great pleasure of teaching a writing course with him several years ago, and working very closely with Clive was a wonderful, memorable experience.
–His physical tenacity. In the face of many illnesses in his life, Clive bounced back again and again, and that tenacity continues to inspire me.
–And, of course, I admired Clive’s intelligence and wit.
It’s fair to say that I also disagreed with Clive on a lot of issues that came up at the college over time. He was a man of strong opinions. But that we could disagree and remain good friends says a great deal about his character and his commitment to the college.
Goodbye, my friend. I’ll miss you.

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