Spotlight on Badger Alumni: Mechanical Engineer Neil Duffie

In our year of recognizing the 150th anniversary of UW Mechanical Engineering, it makes sense to talk to one of the Department’s illustrious leaders. Emeritus Professor Neil A. Duffie earned three degrees from UW-Madison; his BS in Computer Science in 1974 before he committed to engineering with his MS in 1976 and PhD in ME in 1980. He served as department chair from 1999 to 2007.

What are some highlights from your career at UW-Madison and in Mechanical Engineering during the course of your time here?

I joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering faculty in 1980 and retired with emeritus status in 2015. Serving as the Department’s Chairperson from 1999 to 2007 was perhaps the most significant highlight for me. During that time much of the 1930s-era Mechanical Engineering Building was demolished and rebuilt, doubling the building in size and modernizing the classrooms, labs and infrastructure. (There are plenty of horror stories about the old infrastructure.) The project was a team effort, and the result was modern yet retained the architectural style of the old building. Also, there were many retirements during my time as Chairperson, and the Department hired approximately 1/3 of its faculty as new assistant professors. This was a great opportunity for the Department to strengthen existing programs and expand in areas such as biomechanical engineering, robotics, and cyber technologies. Many of the young professors we hired at that time are leaders in the Department’s faculty today.

I worked in diverse areas of research during my career, including solar timber drying, industrial robotics, laser surface finishing and flying automated plant growing systems on the Space Shuttle. My Master’s Degree and PhD projects were funded by industry, the former in welding automation and the latter in computer control of machine tools. I owe much to Professors John Bollinger and Marvin DeVries, my two most significant mentors, for this research focus on industry. Serving as advisor for brilliant and hard-working graduate students has been memorable and satisfying as has seeing their success afterwards in industry and academia. Through my membership and activities in the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (now simply SME), I constantly interacted with manufacturing professionals and came to better understand their environment and challenges. In 2008 I served as President of SME, and in the years before and after it has been very rewarding to work closely with the volunteers and staff of that influential, mission-focused professional organization.

Beginning in the early 1980s I was involved in instruction for remote learning, offering controls courses to graduate students working in industry. Early on, my lectures were distributed on videotape, and some were broadcast on very late-night public television. The progression of technologies was interesting, starting with videotaping of classroom lectures and evolving to “overhead cameras” to “green screen” and then to modern self-made videos. Even though working full time, the students in these remote-learning courses were often stellar.

What do you miss now that you’re retired?

I miss day-to-day interactions with faculty and staff. The Department has a spirit of collegiality, perhaps more so than some other departments, and this promoted educational and research program development and made what at times could be a stressful job easier. (Not to say there were no disagreements; for example, about the undergraduate curriculum.) I also miss day-to-day interactions with graduate and undergraduate students. Because of research and administrative activities, I had less involvement than some faculty in required undergraduate courses. Nevertheless, undergraduate and graduate students really stand out in my memory for their enthusiasm and intellect. Many contributed far beyond what was required.

What are you most proud of?

A continuous focus over my career has been control and automation in manufacturing systems and equipment, including distributed decision-making concepts and application of control theory to understanding dynamic behavior of modern manufacturing systems. I received the SME Frederick W. Taylor Research Medal in 2012 for this work, and I published a textbook on the topic in 2022. I was encouraged by and collaborated with international colleagues such as Prof. Hans-Peter Wiendahl of the University of Hannover in Germany. I was honored as a Fellow of ASME, SME and CIRP. The latter, the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP comes from its name in French), permits a very limited number of members per country and gathers its members together twice annually to share results and collaborate on manufacturing research and education. During my years as a faculty member and in research positions prior to that I had the opportunity to live and work in Australia, England, and Germany and visit many other countries. These experiences greatly influenced me, and I remain friends with and still collaborate with international colleagues.

What are you doing in retirement?

As noted above, when I retired I wrote a textbook on control theory applications for dynamic production systems. Then I wrote a book on Duffie family history that was something like a historical monograph with many footnotes and references. I continue to collaborate with colleagues in Germany on manufacturing system control research, and I am co-advising a UW-Madison PhD student. I am playing guitar in old-time string bands and playing ice hockey a couple of times a week. While playing guitar has been in my life for years, having more time to be involved in music has brought me new friends and exposure to new genres, especially fiddle tunes. My sisters and I have a cabin on a beautiful, small lake in Northern Wisconsin and my wife, Colleen, and I enjoy relaxing there with our family and keeping it in good condition. We have three children and six grandchildren; two of the grandchildren are local. We like to travel, and we recently moved to a smaller home on Madison’s near east side that seems to breed maintenance and modernization projects.

Any messages for your students or colleagues, past and present?

I keep in contact with some of the graduate students that I advised, but there are many that I have lost track of. I would like to hear from them and to hear how their careers have progressed and in what directions life has carried them.

My advice to older faculty, is to do the Department a favor and make your retirement timely: the Department can hire “young blood” and you can remain involved if desired. Best of all, in retirement, you control your calendar! My advice to students and younger faculty, on the one hand, is to jump at opportunities; you can’t guess their importance and where they will carry you. On the other hand, you need to be reliable and timely and do whatever you have agreed to do exceptionally well.

Featured image: Neil Duffie in the manufacturing robotics lab, mid-1980s