Dr. Robert Stone, associate professor of interdisciplinary engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla, has been selected as a visiting professor in the engineering mechanics department at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The department houses the systems engineering, engineering mechanics and mechanical engineering degree program.

The one-year appointment, which is effective July 7, is part of an ongoing program to bring a limited number of eminent civilian educators to the academy. The academy’s mission is to train future Air Force officers for careers in the military, and provide a top-notch education in a choice of 30 academic majors and four minors.

Stone, who joined UMR in January 1998, has utilized his design background to assist in transforming the former basic engineering department into the degree-granting interdisciplinary engineering department. His research interests are design theory and methodology, specifically product architectures, functional representations and automated conceptual design techniques.

In January 2004, Stone was appointed director of the interdisciplinary Student Design and Experiential Learning Center, where he oversees the design competition activities of nine UMR teams.

Stone’s duties at USAFA will include teaching a core engineering fundamentals course required of all cadets, updating the design content in the upper level engineering design courses and collaborating with their faculty on research projects. He has also been asked to assist the USAFA faculty with their two design competition teams: the Formula SAE race car team and mini-baja buggy team.