A textbook co-authored by a University of Missouri-Rolla professor is being used to educate engineers at some of the leading universities around the world.

Dr. Ken Ragsdell, professor of engineering management and systems engineering, is co-author of “Engineering Optimization: Methods and Applications,” second edition. His co-authors are A. Ravindran of Pennsylvania State University and G.V. Reklaitis of Purdue University.

The textbook takes an interdisciplinary look at the industrial applications of engineering optimization. Engineers are often tasked to design new, better, more efficient, and less expensive systems. Optimization is at the heart of those tasks, allowing engineers to determine the best procedure without actually testing all possible alternatives, Ragsdell explains.

The book’s first edition, published in 1983 by John Wiley & Sons, has since been translated into more than five languages.

Ragsdell, who is director of UMR’s Design Engineering Center, joined UMR as associate vice chancellor for academic affairs and extension in 1989, a position he held until he returned to full-time teaching and research in 1992. Prior to coming to UMR, Ragsdell served as chair of the mechanical and aerospace engineering department and was the Huber O. Croft Research Professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Prior to his teaching career, Ragsdell worked as a mechanical designer for Moog Industries Inc. in St. Louis and International Business Machines Corp. in Austin. His major area of expertise is the engineering design process with a specialty in computer-aided design, optimization and quality engineering.