Sponsoring Section/Society: ASA
Session Slot: 4:00- 5:50 Tuesday
Estimated Audience Size: 500
AudioVisual Request: Video projector for his Macintosh Laptop
Session Title: Deming Lecture
Myron Tribus, PE, is a consulting engineer, specializing in Quality
Management and is a Director of Exergy, a company specializing in the design
of advanced high efficiency power production systems. He retired from MIT
in 1986 after 11 1/2 years as Director of the Center for Advanced Engineering
Study. Before coming to MIT he was a Senior Vice President for Research and
Engineering for the Xerox Corporation, where he was in charge of Research,
Development and Engineering for the entire line of Xerox Copiers,
Duplicators and Telecopiers. Before that he served for two years as Assistant
Secretary ofor Science and Technology in the U. S. Department of Commerce.
For eight years he was Dean of the Thayer School of Engineering at
Dartmouth College where he introduced the Unified Engineering
Curriculum and lead the faculty in developing a curriculum based on
engineering design and entrepreneurship. Dr. Tribus served for 16 years on
the faculty of the College of Engineering and UCLA and two years on the
Faculty of the University of Michigan. He has worked as a design engineer
for the Jet Engine Development of the General Electric Company. In 1958 he
hosted the television show ``Threshold'' for CBS in Los Angeles.
Dr. Tribus has published over 100 papers on topics ranging from academic subjects, such as heat transfer, fluid mechanics, probability theory, statist- ical inference and thermodynamics to applied topics such as sea water demineralization, aircraft heating, aircraft ice prevention and the design of engineering curricula. He has published two books, ``Thermostatics and Thermodynamics'' (which provided the first textbook which bases the laws of thermodynamics on information theory instead of the classical arguments) and ``Rational Descriptions, Decisions and Designs'' (which introduces Bayesian Decisions methods into the engineering design process). Dr. Tribus was active with Irving Langmuir in the pioneering days of cloud seeding and has published analyses of the role of statistics in weather modification.
Dr. Tribus has also published and lectured extensively on topics of social interest such as the position of engineers in politics, the decline of US competitiveness in world trade, the role of decision theory in political decision making and the role of technology in society.
In recent years dr. Tribus has become known through his writings on Dr. Deming's philosophy of management. He is one of the founders of the American Quality and Productivity Institute which is devoted to teaching and promoting the fundamentals of quality management. The AQPI merged its efforts with the Transformation of American Industry project of Jackson Community College to form the Community Quality Council to foster the growth and development of community quality centers across the USA. This activity has recently been merged with the activities of the Association for Quality and Participation, which will continue the support of community quality centers.
Dr. Tribus is currently a partner in Exergy, an enterprise devoted to the commercialization of a new power cycle for utilities to use in electric power generation, the Kalina Cycle, which promises significant improvements in efficiency and economy, using off-the-shelf hardware and conventional levels of pressure and temperature. The new technology is currently being commercialized. Worldwide rights to the ``bottoming cycle'' have been acquired by the General Electric Company. The patented design for geothermal applications increases the output of a geothermal bore by as much as 40%. In a recent report the U.S. Department of Energy reported that this technology doubles the amount of land in the USA which may be exploited for geothermal electrical energy production. This design has been licensed to Ansaldo, an Italian company which holds the largest share of the international geothermal market. The technology for coal and other solids, which promises a reduction in coal use by 20%, has been licensed by Ebara, a Japanese company. A commercial installation based on the incineration of industrial waste is currently in the design stages.
Dr. Tribus is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He has served on several boards of directors and been a consultant to many companies and governmental bodies. He has received five awards for technical papers and public service and two honorary doctorates. He received the BS in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1942 and the PhD in Engineering from UCLA in 1949.
Dr. Tribus is married and has two grown daughters.
Session Organizer: Deming Lectureship Committee
Session Chair: Starbuck, Robert R. Wyeth-Ayerst Research
Address: Clinical Research & Development Wyeth-Ayerst Research PO Box 42528 Philadelphia, PA
Phone: 610-341-2070
Fax: 610-341-2092
Email: starbur@war.wyeth.com
1. The Contributions of W. Edwards Deming to the Improvement of Education
Address: 350 Britto Terrace Fremont, CA 94539
Phone: 510-651-3641
Fax: 510-656-9875
Email: 104055.2663@compuserve.com
Abstract: W. Edwards Deming's teachings about management and about education have inspired several teachers to change the way they approach their jobs. The transformation began with one school in Alaska in the 1980's and has since spread world-wide with schools as far away as Tasmania and Latin America working at the transformation. The trials and tribulations along the way resemble those encountered in industry. The greatest strides have been made at the lower grades; universities have thus far, with minor exceptions, given only lip service.When Deming's ideas about management are combined with Reuven Feuerstein's practices in cognitive development, the promise of a wholly new and vastly improved educational experience for future generations is in sight. To what degree this vision can be attained will depend upon the continued spread of the ideas of these two men. In the words of Dr. Deming, success will require ``a critical mass of people who understand and work consistently.''