Introduction to Kinematics and Dynamics of Machinery (Synthesis Lectures on Mechanical Engineering)

Introduction to Kinematics and Dynamics of Machinery is presented in lecture notes format and is suitable for a single-semester three credit hour course taken by juniors in an undergraduate degree program majoring in mechanical engineering. It is based on the lecture notes for a required course with a similar title given to junior (and occasionally senior) undergraduate students by the author in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Calgary from 1981 and since 1996 at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. The emphasis is on fundamental concepts, theory, analysis, and design of mechanisms with applications. While it is aimed at junior undergraduates majoring in mechanical engineering, it is suitable for junior undergraduates in biological system engineering, aerospace engineering, construction management, and architectural engineering.

Dr. To obtained his doctoral degree in sound and vibration studies from the University of Southampton in April 1980. He is currently a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and a professor emeritus in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at the University of Nebraska (UNL). Prior to joining UNL he was a professor (1994-96) and an associate professor (1986-94) at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He was an associate professor (1985-86) and an assistant professor (1982-85) at the University of Calgary. Between 1982 and 1992 he was a University Research Fellow of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canada. He served as chair of the ASME Finite Element Techniques and Computational Technologies Technical Committee. In addition to being a member of the editorial boards for several refereed international journals, Dr. To currently serves as an associate editor of the International Journal of Mechanics.

His main academic interests are in nonlinear stochastic structural dynamics, nonlinear finite element analysis with particular reference to laminated composite plates and shells, nonlinear dynamics and control, machinery noise and vibration diagnostics, and mechanics of carbon nano-tubes. He is the author of Introduction to Dynamics and Control in Mechanical Engineering Systems (2016, ASME and Wiley), Stochastic Structural Dynamics: Application of Finite Element Methods (2014, Wiley), Nonlinear Random Vibration: Analytical Techniques and Applications (Second Edition, 2012, Taylor and Francis/CRC Press), and Nonlinear Random Vibration: Computational Methods (2010, Zip Publishing, Columbus, Ohio).