Steve Carr, recently appointed professor emeritus from Northwestern University, was co-director of its Master of Product Design and Development Management degree program. He is developing coursework related to materials selection as an indispensable part of product design and development.

Professor Carr’s career has involved teaching in materials science and engineering, research on polymer solids and fluids, and serving for 23 years as the dean of undergraduate engineering at Northwestern.

His research program made important contributions to: 1) the effects of processing on structure/property relationships in flexible or rodlike polymers and their alloys, 2) the origins of piezoelectricity in polymers, 3) structure/ property relationships in electronically conducting polymers, 4) fracture toughness in semicrystalline polymers, 5) mechanochemical processes in pulverizing plastics, and 6) network polymers, especially those found in epoxy resins or in human gallstones.

His leadership in engineering education at Northwestern lead to a substantial reorientation of the educational experience for its students. Recently he has done scholarship and sponsored research centered on attaining a deeper understanding of how engineering students learn and grow themselves.