David Beach

Beach teaches courses in the areas of design and manufacturing. Beach and Craig Milroy co-direct the Product Realization Laboratory which provides 800 students annually with hands on experiences in product definition, conceptual design, detail design, and prototype creation. The PRL offers courses, mentors and tools in support of integrated product creation. Pedagogically, Beach believes that creation of experience from which students (and teams of students) can interpret and internalize their own conclusions provides an excellent complement to content based teaching. His goal is to add strength in tacit knowledge which derives from the hands-on synthesis of design, prototype building, presentation and criticism.. The resulting judgment and instinct regarding materials, devices, materials transformation processes, and design process complement classical analytical engineering education to create superior engineers Beach teaches or co-teaches: ME203: Manufacturing and Design ME206: Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability (with Jim Patell, Erica Estrada, and Stuart Coulson) ME219: The Magic of Materials & Manufacturing (with Kara Johnson) ME314: Good Products, Bad Products ME318: Computer Aided Product Creation ME324: Precision Engineering (with Professor Dan DeBra) ME399: Special Projects in Product Development The PRL has engendered many new companies which design, manufacture and distribute products in diverse domains including Haptic Devices, Medical Devices, Sporting Goods, Underwater Video Equipment, Robotics, and Automated Genomics Laboratory Equipment.