Robert L. Norton earned undergraduate degrees in both mechanical engineering and in-dustrial technology at Northeastern University and an MS in engineering design at TuftsUniversity. He is a registered professional engineer in Massachusetts. He has extensiveindustrial experience in engineering design and manufacturing and many years' experi-ence teaching mechanical engineering, engineering design, computer science, and relatedsubjects at Northeastern University, Tufts University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.At Polaroid Corporation for 10 years, he designed cameras, related mechanisms,and high-speed automated machinery. He spent three years at Jet Spray Cooler Inc.,designing food-handling machinery and products. For five years he helped developartificial-heart and noninvasive assisted-circulation (counterpulsation) devices at theTufts New England Medical Center and Boston City Hospital. Since leaving industryto join academia, he has continued as an independent consultant on engineering projectsranging from disposable medical products to high-speed production machinery. He holds13 U.S. patents.Norton has been on the faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute since 1981 andis currently the Milton Prince Higgins II Distinguished Professor in the mechanical en-gineering department, head of the design group in that department, and the director ofthe Gillette Project Center at WPI. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses inmechanical engineering with emphasis on design, kinematics, vibrations, and dynamicsof machinery.He is the author of numerous technical papers and joumal articles covering kinemat-ics, dynamics of machinery, cam design and manufacturing, computers in education, andengineering education and of the texts Machine Design: An Integrated Approach,4ed andthe Cam Design and Manufacturing Handbook, 2ed. He is a Fellow and life member ofthe American Society of Mechanical Engineers and a member of the Society of Automo-tive Engineers. In 2007, he was chosen as U. S. Professor of the Year for the State ofMassachusetts by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education ( CASE) andthe Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, who jointly present the onlynational awards for teaching excellence given in the United States of America.