Danny J Bee

Areas of Interest and Research

I have many research interests. I enjoy assisting manufacturing companies to improve their operations. I thoroughly enjoy getting involved in continuous quality improvement, particularly the aspects of lean manufacturing currently being implemented by many companies. I have recently begun doing independent consulting in the area of facilitating sustainable design and development practices and have done some work with organizations in the packaging industry. I am pursuing a doctoral degree through Michigan Technological University in Mechanical Engineering under the advisement of Dr. John Sutherland.

My MTU research is in the area of environmentally responsible design and manufacturing (ERDM), or industrial ecology, or sustainable development, or whatever new buzz phrase someone wants to call it. Bottom line: we need to design, use, and reuse products and materials so we do not deplete all of the available resources in the world. We need to quit filling up landfills with municipal solid waste (MSW), dumping this MSW in the ocean, or incinerating the MSW. We need to come up with ways of creating product multi-use and ultimately zero material waste. I'll get off my soapbox now!

In addition to this research, I have continually striven to incorporate new methods of teaching into my instruction, namely problem based learning. I have been actively involved in outreach efforts to interest young minds in the areas of engineering and technology. My primary focus over the past 5 years has been with the Advanced STEPS summer camp here at Stout and through our involvement with the Wisconsin FIRST LEGO League (WiFLL). We are a host site for a regional FLL tournament, to be held on Saturday, November 7, 2009, and will also be the primary sponsor of the upcoming State of WI FLL tournament, to be held on Saturday, December 5, 2009, in Osseo, WI.

I have been an active participant in the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and have published numerous papers in their annual conference. Here are papers not related to my doctoral research that I have either authored or co-authored:

Capturing Students for Manufacturing Engineering - Countering the Reverse Funnel Pipeline, Bee, D., and Rothaupt, R., Proceedings of the 2008 ASEE Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, June 2008.
Ten Years of STEPS Success: Significant Impact In Attracting Girls to Science, Technology, and Engineering Careers, Bee, D., Puck, B., and Heimdahl, P., Proceedings of the 2007ASEE Annual Conference, Honolulu, HI, June 2007.
Opportunities and Challenges for Manufacturing Engieering, Bee, D., and Meyer, B., Proceedings of the 2007 ASEE Annual Conference, Honolulu, HI, June 2007.
Developing Higer Order Problem Solving Skills Through Problem Based Learning (PBL) in a Manufacturing Engineering Course, Bee, D., Proceedings of the 2007 ASEE Annual Conference, Honolulu, HI, June 2007.
An Experiment on Sintering Characteristics of Coarse Nano-Scale Alumina for Manufacturing Students, Asthana, R., Bee, D., and Rothaupt, R., Proceedings of the 2004 ASEE Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, June 2004.
Summer Technology & Engineering Preview at Stout (STEPS) for Girls, Bee, D., Puck, B., and Heimdahl, P., Proceedings of the 2003 ASEE Annual Conference, Nashville, TN, June 2003.
Back to the Future Manufacturing Engineering at Stout, Bee, D., Proceedings of the 2001 ASEE Annual Conference, Albuquerque, NM, June 2001.

Please let me know if any of the links are not working properly. Thanks.

University of Wisconsin - Stout
817 S. Broadway St., P.O. Box 790
307 Fryklund Hall
Menomonie, WI 54751
715-232-5247
email: Danny J Bee

This page was last edited 02/18/09