Dr Richard Rakowski

After completing his PhD, Dr Rakowski worked for GEC Hirst Research Centre, Wembley, London as a research and development engineer working on vacuum circuit breakers and high power lasers. Dr Rakowski joined Brunel University in 1978 and was one of the founder members of the enhanced Special Engineering Programme, as part of the newly formed Engineering and Management Systems Department, pioneering many new teaching and assessment methods around the use of problem-based learning. In 1992 he joined the department of Manufacturing and Engineering Systems as a lecturer in sensor and measurement technologies for use in production environments. In 2000 he became the Deputy Head of the Systems Engineering Department, finally joining the Design Department in 2005. In his long academic career Dr Rakowski has published 115 papers and has contributed to over £4million of research contracts. In 2011 Dr Rakowski received the Brunel University STAR award in recognition of his contribution to teaching.

Academic Qualifications

• B.Sc. (Eng). in Electrical Engineering
  Second Class (Upper Division)
  Queen Mary College, University of London. 1973
• M.Sc. in Power Systems and Machine Design
  Imperial College, University of London. 1974
• Ph.D. in Synchronous Vacuum Circuit Breakers
  Queen Mary College, University of London. 1977

Current Administrative Duties

• Senior Tutor
• Student Personal Tutor
• Chair, Design Board of Studies
• Chair, Design Examination Boards
• Member, Mitigating Circumstances Panel
• Member, Industrial Advisory Group

Publications

• Total Publications:115
• Refereed Journals 26
• International Conferences 59
• Other Conferences 12
• Patents 7
• Books (contributions) 2
• Technical Articles 9
• [Invited Guest Lectures] [14]

Current Research

Smart and Effective Engineering Manufacturing (SEEM).

Technology Strategy Board: Awarded: £1,234,798.

• (Start November 2009, for 3 years) Collaborative R&D Competition: Consortium: Renishaw Ltd (Lead), Diameter Ltd, Brunel University, Bristol University, NPL

Previous Research

• Faraday Partnership INTErSECT Project on Acoustic Emission, Traceable Sensing and Signature Diagnostics. DTI, Rolls-Royce, NPL, GlaxoWellcome, BNFL, Zeneca, ICI, British Steel, SmithKline Beecham. Awarded £826,000
• Faraday Partnership INTErSECT Project, Resonant Microsensor Modules for Measurement of Physical Quantities (REMISE), with Southampton University. Awarded £923, 000

Teaching

• DM2318 Systems Design
• ME5505 Design Experience
• DM1316 Product Analysis
• ME0083 Engineering Projects

Professional Qualification

• The Institution of Electrical Engineers - M.I.E.E. - 1979
• The Council of Chartered Engineering Institutions - C.Eng. - 1979
• The Institution of Polish Engineers - M.I.Pol.E. - 1983
• The Institution of Engineering and Technology - F.I.E.T. - 1999
• The Institution of Engineering Designers - M.I.E.D. - 2007

Publications

Journal Papers

(2005) Martinez, L., Cecelja, F. and Rakowski, R., A novel magneto-optic ferrofluid material for sensor applications, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical 123-124 438- 443

(2005) Yan, T., Jones, BE., Rakowski, RT., Tudor, MJ., Beeby, SP. and White, NM., Metallic resonant strain gauges with high overload capability, Sensor Review 25 (2) : 144- 147

(2004) Yan, T., Jones, BE., Rakowski, RT., Tudor, MJ., Beeby, SP. and White, NM., Design and fabrication of thick-film PZT-metallic triple beam resonators, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical 115 (2-3) : 401- 407

(2004) Yan, T., Jones, BE., Rakowski, RT., Tudor, MJ., Beeby, SP. and White, NM., Development of metallic digital strain gauges, Applied Mechanics and Materials 1-2 179- 184

(2004) Yan, T., Jones, BE., Rakowski, RT., Tudor, MJ., Beeby, SP. and White, NM., Development of metallic digital strain gauges, Journal of Measurement and Control 37 (7) : 214- 216

(2003) Yan, T., Jones, BE., Rakowski, RT., Tudor, MJ., Beeby, SP. and White, NM., Thick-film PZT-metallic triple beam resonator, Electronics Letters 39 (13) : 982- 983

(2001) Mousavi, A., Adl, P., Rakowski, RT., Gunasekaran, A. and Mirnezami, N., Customer optimization route and evaluation (CORE) for product design, International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing 14 (2) : 236- 243

(2001) Mousavi, A., Adl, P., Rakowski, RT. and Gunasekaran, A., Design of a production planning system using customer oriented design and resource utilisation (CODARU), The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology 17 (11) : 805- 809

(1998) Aldridge, DC., Jarvis, DR., Jones, BE. and Rakowski, RT., A method for demonstrating the linearity of measurement microphones at high sound pressures, Acta Acustica united with Acustica 84 (6) : 1167- 1171

(1998) Aldridge, DC., Jarvis, DR., Jones, BE. and Rakowski, RT., A pressure-step method for determining the low frequency sensitivity of measurement microphones at high sound pressures, Acta Acustica united with Acustica 84 (6) : 1161- 1166

(1998) Martinez, LM., Adl, P., Rakowski, RT. and Cheshmehdoost, A., An optical current transducer for residual current sensing in the milliampere range, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical 67 (1-3) : 102- 108

(1993) Rakowski, RT., Borjonfigueroa, LF. and Jones, BE., Magnetoresistive force sensors for use in an instrumented pen, Sensors and Actuators A: Physical 37-38 422- 429

(1990) Adl, P., Memon, ZA., Mapps, DJ. and Rakowski, RT., Serpentine magnetoresistive elements for tactile sensor applications, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics 26 (5) : 2047- 2049

(1990) Coppard, RW., Bowman, J., Dissado, LA., Rowland, SM. and Rakowski, RT., The effect of aluminium inclusions on the dielectric breakdown of polyethylene, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 23 (12) : 1554- 1561

(1979) Nelson, JK. and Rakowski, RT., Synchronous vacuum interruption, IEE Proceedings 126 (2) : 182- 184

Conference Papers

(2009) Intiang, J., DeGolier, E., Rakowski, RT., Jones, BE. and Cheshmehdoost, A., Use of metallic resonant sensor in torque measurement transfer standard, 14th International Conference on Sensors, Technologies, Electronics and Applications, Sensor 2009 (1) : 71- 76

(2001) Martinez, LM., Adl, P. and Rakowski, RT., Automated method for magneto-optical sensors characterisation, 18th IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (IMTC/2001)

(2001) Theobald, P., Rakowski, RT., Yan, T., Jarvis, D., Dowson, S. and Jones, BE., Reference source for the calibration of acoustic emission measurement, 18th IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (IMTC/2001)

(2000) Littlefair, M., Richardson, J. and Rakowski, RT., Resonant power supply for discharge lamps, 8th International Conference on Power Electronics and Variable Speed Drives

(2000) Maun, RK., Adl, P., Rakowski, RT. and Mousavi, A., A systematic approach for the improvement of product design, Engineering Design Conference 2000: Design for Excellence

(1998) Rakowski, RT., Adl, P. and Powell, S., Iterative techniques or quantum leaps? The roll of research in the design process, Engineering Design Conference '98

(1997) Jones, BE., Cheshmehdoost, A., Barker, AJ., Mookherjee, PB., Randall, DS., Rakowski, RT., Rees, D., Crowther, SN., Fry, PW. and Rudkin, MJ., A pressure transducer using a metallic tuning fork with thin film piezoelectric drive and pick-up, 8th Conference on Sensors and Their Applications

(1993) Mardapittas, AS., Rakowski, RT., Kezos, A. and Jones, BE., Quality inspection of grooves using ultrasonic beams, International Conference on Acoustic Sensing and Imaging

(1992) Rakowski, RT., Borjonfigueroa, LF. and Jones, BE., Magnetoresistive force sensors for use in an instrumented pen, Eurosensors Conference No. 6

(1992) Rakowski, RT., Mullineux, G. and Ansari, AW., Sensor fusion into a manufacturing cell controller using constraint modeling techniques, Symosium on Intelligent Components and Instruments for Control Applications (SICICA'92)

(1991) Adl, P., Memon, ZA. and Rakowski, RT., Robot handling of food products, 5th Conference on Sensors and Their Applications

(1990) Adl, P., Memon, ZA., Mapps, DJ. and Rakowski, RT., Serpentine magnetoresistive elements for tactile sensor applications, 1990 International Magnetics Conference, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics

(1989) Coppard, RW., Bowman, J., Rakowski, RT., Durham, RT. and Rowland, SM., The effect of included flaws upon the AC breakdown of polyethylene, 3rd International Conference on Conduction and Breakdown in Solid Dielectrics

(2004) Kaewkongka, T., Au, YHJ., Harris, A., Rakowski, RT. and Jones, BE., Bearing condition monitoring based on the inter-arrival time distribution of acoustic emission events - experiment, 5th International Conference on Quality, Reliability and Maintenance

(2004) Au, YHJ., Kaewkongka, T., Harris, A., Rakowski, RT. and Jones, BE., Bearing condition monitoring based on the inter-arrival time distribution of acoustic emission events - theory, 5th International Conference on Quality, Reliability and Maintenance

(2001) Kaewkongka, T., Au, YHJ., Rakowski, RT. and Jones, BE., Condition monitoring of rotodynamic machinery using acoustic emission and fuzzy c-mean clustering technique, 14th International Congress of the Condition Monitoring and Diagnostic Engineering Management Conference(COMADEM 2001)