Rate My Professor Hugh Jack

Hugh Jack serves as the Cass Ballenger Distinguished Professor and Director of the School of Engineering + Technology at Western Carolina University. He earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, along with an M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, from the University of Western Ontario. Before joining Western Carolina University in 2015 as the inaugural Cass Ballenger Distinguished Professor, Jack was a Professor of Product Design and Manufacturing Engineering at Grand Valley State University, where he chaired the product design and manufacturing program. His career encompasses extensive involvement in engineering and technology education, with appointments focused on advancing project-based learning and manufacturing curricula.

Jack's academic interests and research specializations center on robotics, automation, IoT, design projects, mechatronics, control theory, system modeling, PLC programming, and manufacturing engineering education, including lean manufacturing. He has authored the influential textbook Engineering Design, Planning, and Management (Academic Press, 2013; second edition, 2021), which addresses critical topics such as decision-making, project planning and management, reliability and system design, communication, finance, budgets, purchasing, bidding, people and teams, customer requirements, and general design concepts. Key publications also include conference papers like 'The Four Pillars of Manufacturing Engineering: What Engineering and Technology Graduates Should Know About Manufacturing' (2012), 'IoT in Project-Based Learning' (2023), 'An Approach for a Project-Based Digital Logic Design Course Using an Innovative Simulator' (2023), 'The Use of Chatbots in Engineering Including Critical Thinking and Problem Definition' (2024), and numerous works on hands-on learning, such as 'BYOE: Individual Lab Kit Options for Analog and Digital Circuits Suitable for In-class or At-home Experiments' (2021). His scholarship has garnered over 1,710 citations on Google Scholar, impacting engineering pedagogy through innovative teaching methods and industry-aligned education. In 2024, Jack led efforts securing a $524,000 grant from IACMI to fund CNC machining education, serving 190 participants over two years with fellow faculty.