Rudy Lucas Samuels
Work Experience:
Contrary2Ordinary, San Francisco CA. 3/00 - PresentComputer / Fabrication / Prototyping Skills:
Independent Design Contractor: Established Contrary2Ordinary Product Development Services as of March 2000. The business provides independent innovation, engineering and design expertise to a wide range of product development organizations from design consultancies to small and large product companies. Work specializes in first generation innovative products and the beginning stages of the product development cycle. Focus on market investigation, need finding, product requirements, concept development, concept validation, prototype design & construction and traditional mechanical engineering design. Client list includes IDEO Product Development, Speck Product Design, Crosskate, Thinkshop, Avacore Technologies, Rapport Inc., Atlas SnowShoe Company, Tubbs Snowshoes, and K2 Sports.IDEO Product Development, Palo Alto CA. 10/96 - 3/99
Mechanical Design Engineer: IDEO is the world's largest design consultancy and specializes in user centered multidisciplinary product development. Engineering tasks focus on creative concept development techniques such as brainstorming, rapid prototyping for concept validation, hands on communication with internal disciplines including human factors, interface design and manufacturing, and solid model construction with state of the art CAD software packages like Pro-Engineer. Completed seven major engineering programs in a diverse range of product areas including business telephones, consumer electronics, home appliances, construction equipment, and office furniture. Please see second page for detailed project descriptions.IDEO Product Development, Palo Alto CA. 6/95 - 8/95
Mechanical Engineering Intern: Member of a five person team designing a cell therapy device for a large Silicon Valley medical products company. Position involved the design and testing of functional prototypes using Solid Designer. Project demanded strong interaction with the client's cell biologists in order to balance engineering and biological concerns.Innovation Research of California 12/94 - 3/95
Design Consultant: Mechanical engineer for a four person team addressing the design of an electric power assisted bicycle intended for the US market by a major Japanese client. Role included concept development, product and market evaluation and mechanical support.Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA. 7/94 - 9/94
Design Mentor: Design and Shop Resource for Teacher's Institute Continuing Education Program. Designed classroom educational aids addressing teacher's personalized goals to promote higher learning. Trained educators in the elementary concepts of exhibit design, project fabrication techniques, machine tool use, and shop safety.Exploratorium, San Francisco CA. 12/92 - 5/93 6/89 - 8/89
Exhibit Design Intern: Design and fabrication of museum exhibits intended to educate the public about science in a hands-on manner. Exhibit design stressed mechanical function, long term reliability, and user interaction and human interface considerations.
• Windows NT, Macintosh, UNIX, and DOS systems.Education:
• Solid Modeling Software: SolidWorks, Pro Engineer & Pro Sheetmetal. Previous Experience with Solid Designer and ME30.
• General Software: Vellum (CAD), Microsoft Office. Experience with Page Maker, Photoshop, and C.
• CNC machine tools, general machine tools, TIG & MIG welding, sheet metal fabrication, plastic fabrication, basic electronics, and wood working.
• Frequent experience with rapid functional prototyping and rough & presentation model construction.
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA. 9/93 - 6/96
GPA: 4.0, BS in Product Design
Stanford University Tau Beta Pi Honor Society.Brown University, Providence, RI. 9/90 - 6/92
GPA: 4.0 pursuing BS in Mechanical Engineering
(Classes also completed at R.I.S.D. in Industrial Design.)