James L. Adams  

James L. Adams

Professor Emeritus, Mechanical Engineering (design);  Management Science and Engineering;  Science, Technology and Society.

Phone: 650-723-1849 | Fax: 650-723-3521 |  Email: jim.adams@Stanford.edu

Education

B.S. Caltech, Mechanical Engineering, 1955
Study in Art at UCLA - no degree
Ph.D. Stanford University, Mechanical Engineering with Art Minor, 1961

Biographical Information

Professor Adams served a tour in the Air Force, and held short-term jobs in design and development in industry before receiving his Ph.D.  After receiving the degree he was employed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California where he was involved in the design of the first spacecraft to explore the Moon, Venus and Mars. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1966.  The courses he has taught at Stanford range from mechanical and product design through courses having to do with the nature of technology. 

He is particularly interested in issues having to do with the management of creativity and change in technology-based organizations, with the design process and product design, and with the emotional aspects of technology.  He has consulted and conducted seminars on the topics of creativity, innovation, general problem-solving, organizational change, management of R&D, planning, and design for over 100 commercial clients, ranging from large to small and technical to financial.  He has also been a consultant and lecturer to a large number of government, educational, and professional groups and been a faculty member in many executive programs at Stanford.

Adams has held many administrative posts at Stanford including Director of the Design Divison, Chairman of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management  and the program in Science, Technology, and Society,  Chairman of the Faculty Advisory Board, Associate Dean for Special Projects and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs of the School of Engineering.  He has served as technical director and board member of Mast Immunosystems, president and board member of the Technology Center of Silicon Valley, a member of the California Governor's Panel on Toxic Wastes and a Sigma Xi Lecturer.  

He has received the Geggenheimer award for innovation,  both the Dinkelspiel and Lyman Awards,  Stanford's highest for service to undergraduates and alumni respectively, and many teaching awards. He is the author of Conceptual Blockbusting, a popular book on creative thinking,  The Care and Feeding of Ideas, a book directed toward the management of creativity and change, and Flying Buttresses, Entropy, and O-Rings, a book on the nature of engineering.

Present activities:

Professor Adams is no longer involved in funded research and is neither accepting nor supporting new graduate students.  Since his retirement in 1999, he has been intensely  involved in activities for which he had insufficient time while on active duty.  These include a large amount of maintenance, extensive shop work, the restoration of numerous antique machines, and goofing around with his wife.  He is presently trying to learn more about the overall effects of mechanization in agriculture, which allows him to visit such resource-rich locations as LeSeur,  MN,  Kinzers, PA,  and,  Mount Pleasant,  IA.   Although he continues to do a bit of teaching and consulting, he is not actively looking for opportunities to do so, since he has a seemingly endless backlog of the above high priority activities.

In addition, he is working on five books, which he may or may not ever finish.  They are briefly described below, with working titles:

  • Good Products, Bad Products.  -  A book based on the course that Professor Adams taught a number of years before retirement (now being taught by Professor David Beach).  It is concerned with a number of characteristics that are essential to high quality products of industry.
  • Beyond Ideas. - Another book on creativity with particular emphasis on balancing creativity and control.  He is presently trying to understand the nature of creativity in organizations whose role is control (FDA, EPA) and that represent the status quo (governments).
  • Heroes, Nerds, and Hustlers - Another book on the nature of engineering.
  • Making, Fixing, and Tinkering - A book extolling the virtues of working with the hands and the costs of not doing so.
  • The Disappearing Orange - A rework of a manuscript of his brother's on the orange business in Southern California (his roots).

 

Last updated 2/26/04

 

 

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