>Keynote Speaker- K. M. Ragsdell, Ph.D.
University of Missouri – Rolla
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Kenneth M. Ragsdell |
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Dr. Ragsdell is Professor of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering and Director of the Design Engineering Center, University of Missouri-Rolla - Rolla, Missouri.
Dr. Ragsdell received his BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri - Rolla and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to his current appointment, he served ten years on the design faculty in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University, and later as Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Design Optimization Laboratory at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He was also Chairman of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Huber O. Croft Professor of Engineering and Director of the Design Productivity Center at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Dr. Ragsdell is a graduate of the General Motors Quality College, and a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Missouri Quality Award.
Prior to his teaching career, he worked in industry as a mechanical designer for Moog Industries, Inc. in St. Louis, Missouri; and IBM Corporation / Office Products Division in Austin, Texas. He has served as consultant to a number of companies including IBM, Xerox, General Motors, John Deere, Procter and Gamble, Whirlpool, Honeywell, Argonne National Laboratory, and Ford; and as President of the consulting company – Ragsdell & Associates,
Dr. Ragsdell is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and is a Senior Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and has lectured throughout Japan on Quality, Engineering and Management.