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Photo of Barr, Ronald

rbarr@mail.utexas.edu
512-471-3008
Office Location: ETC 3.162

Ronald Barr

Professor Emeritus

Department Research Areas:

Ronald E. Barr is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, where he has taught since 1978. He previously taught at Texas A&M University. He received both his BS (Electrical Engineering) and Ph.D. (Biomedical Engineering) degrees from Marquette University in 1969 and 1975, respectively. He spent two years in military service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Barr has been an active member of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and served as ASEE President in 2005-2006. Barr has received numerous grants from NSF for curriculum innovation in engineering education, and frequently publishes articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings on educational topics. During his career, Barr has won 6 first-place and 3 second-place best paper awards at meetings where he has presented. Barr received the A.T.&T. Foundation Award (1990) for excellence in engineering teaching, the Chester F. Carlson Award (1993) for innovation in engineering education, the Engineering Design Graphics Distinguished Service Award (1999). and the Orthogonal Medal (2007). Barr was on the editorial boards of the Engineering Design Graphics Journal and the international Journal for Geometry and Graphics. Barr served five years as Graduate Advisor for Mechanical Engineering and six years as Graduate Advisor for Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Barr's interests are in Biosignal Analysis, Biomechanics of Human Movement, Computer Graphics Modeling, and Engineering Education Research. He has supervised to completion 6 Doctoral dissertations and 53 Masters theses. Barr is a Fellow of ASEE and a Fellow of ASME. He is a Life Member of IEEE, and a member of Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, Alpha Sigma Nu, and Triangle Fraternity. Barr was a Program Evaluator (PEV) for ABET from 2007 to 2015. He is a registered Professional Engineer (PE) in the state of Texas. Barr retired from the ME Faculty in 2021.

Selected Publications
  1. Schroeder, M. J. and Barr, R.E.: An Alpha Modulation Index for Electroencephalographic Studies Using a Complex Demodulation Technique, Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing, 38 (2000), 3, pp. 306-310.
  2. Schroeder, M.J. and Barr, R.E., "Quantitative Analysis of the Electroencephalogram During Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation," Clinical Neurophysiology, Vol. 112(11), (2001), pp. 2075-2083
  3. Rask, J. M., Gonzalez, R.V., and Barr, R. E., "Genetically-Designed Neural Networks for Error Reduction in an Optimized Biomechanical Model of the Human Elbow Joint Complex", Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 7, (2004), 1, pp. 43-50.
  4. Pandy, M.G., Petrosino, A, Austin, B. and Barr, R, "Assessing Adaptive Expertise in Undergraduate Biomechanics," Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 93, (2004), 3, pp. 211-222
  5. Barr, R., Krueger, T., and Aanstoos, T., "Assessing Student Outcomes in an Engineering Design Graphics Course, Engineering Design Graphics Journal, Vol. 68, (2004), (1), pp. 22-36
  6. Barr, R., "Current Status of Engineering Education in America", Journal of the Japanese Society for Engineering Education, Vol. 54, (2006), 2, pp. 36-43
  7. Barr, R., Pandy, M., Petrosino, A., Roselli, R., Brophy, S., and Freeman, R, "Challenge-Based Instruction: The VaNTH Biomechanics Modules", Advances in Engineering Education, Vol. 1, (2007), 1, pp. 1-30.
  8. Barr, R., Engineering Graphics Educational Outcomes for the Global Engineer: An Update, Engineering Design Graphics Journal, Vol. 76, (2012), 3, pp. 8-12.
  9. Danos, X., Barr, R., Gorska, R., and Norman, E.: Curriculum Planning for the Development of Graphicacy Capability: Three Case Studies from Europe and USA, European Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 39 (2014), 6, pp. 666-684.
  10. Barr, R.: A Freshman Engineering Design Graphics Collaboratory, Engineering Design Graphics Journal, Vol. 82 (2018), 2, pp, 1-6.