Peter Ngo completed his Master's thesis and degree in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech in May 2014. He previously completed his undergraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering at Caltech in June 2012 before joining IDREEM lab in September 2012.

Peter's Master's thesis work examines analogical inspiration in design through a survey of analogy-inspired products (such as the Dyson vacuum cleaner, inspired by a sawmill dust collector). His survey collection consisted mainly of products of bio-inspired design (such as Velcro, inspired by cocklebur seeds). Using systematic procedures to search for statistical trends and patterns in the product collections, his work yielded a record of real-world analogy usage and laid a methodological foundation for future study.

Apart from his thesis work, he has enjoyed contributing to research efforts surrounding the Maker Movement, makerspaces, and their impact on engineering innovation and education.

Master's Thesis

Surveying Trends in Analogy-Inspired Product Innovation

Graduation

Spring 2014

Publications:

email: pngo [at] gatech.edu

Refereed Journal Papers:

1. Ngo, P., Turner, C.J., and Linsey, J., (2014, accepted). "Identifying Trends in Analogy Usage for Innovation: A Cross-Sectional Product Study”. Journal of Mechanical Design.
2. Forest, C.R., Moore, R.A., Fasse, B.B., Linsey, J., Newstetter, W., Ngo, P., Quintero, C., (2014). “The Invention Studio: A University Maker Space and Culture,” Advances in Engineering Education.

Refereed Conference Papers:

1. Ngo, P., Turner, C.J., and Linsey, J., "Identifying Trends in Analogy Usage for Innovation: A Cross-Sectional Product Study", Proceedings of the 2014 ASME IDETC/CIE Conference, Paper Number DETC2014-35164, August 2014.
2. Ngo, P., Viswanathan, V., Turner, C.J., and Linsey, J., "Initial Steps Toward a Computational Tool for Analogy Retrieval", Proceedings of the 2013 ASME IDETC/CIE Conference, Paper Number DETC2013-13242, August 2013.