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Bradley Camburn

CAMBURN Bradley

Senior Lecturer
Cheng Tsang Man Teaching Chair Professor
EMAIL
bradley_camburn
sutd.edu.sg
OFFICE
1.302.29
CONTACT
+65 6303 6660
RESEARCH AREAS
Design Science & Engineering

Biography

Dr Camburn’s current research centres on leveraging AI to enhance the capabilities of physics-based simulation in support of the design process. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and made key contributions to design science, particularly in ideation and prototyping.

Before joining SUTD, he was an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University from 2019-2023. He received his PhD from the University of Texas in 2015 and his bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008, both in Mechanical Engineering. He was formerly the Chief Engineer at Gilmour Space Technologies and led the Research and Development team to produce the world’s largest single-port hydrogen peroxide oxidised hybrid rocket engine. He also previously worked as a Research Scientist at the Singapore University of Technology and Design and Massachusetts Institute of Technology International Design Centre (IDC).
Education
  • PhD (Mechanical Engineering) University of Texas at Austin 2015
  • MSME (Mechanical Engineering) University of Texas at Austin 2010
  • BSME (Mechanical Engineering) Carnegie Mellon University 2008
Professional activities
  • Design Business Chamber of Singapore: Co-Op Member, Executive Committee, SUTD Representative
  • ASME, IEEE, ASEE, AIAA (former member ~ 2010-2020)
Awards
  • Editors Choice Award, Journal of Mechanical Design, 2020 “Machine Learning-based Design Concept Evaluation”
  • Reviewer of The Year, Journal of Mechanical Design, 2019
  • Best Paper Award, Design Theory and Methodology Conference, ASME-IDETC, 2019
  • Design Studies Award, Design Studies Journal, 2018 “Principles of maker and DIY fabrication: enabling design prototypes at low cost.”
  • DBCS SG Mark Award 2017: Design Innovation Cards
  • DBCS SG Mark Award 2017: Gilmour Space Academy
  • MIT Club of Singapore Innovation Award 2016, Light Owl, non-lethal dazzler defense drone
  • Best Paper Nomination, 2015, ASME IDETC, “The Way Makers prototype: Principles of DIY Design””
  • Best Paper Award, 2014, ASME IDETC, “Designettes: New Approaches to Multidisciplinary design”
  • Graduate Fellowship Award, University of Texas, Cockrell School of Engineering, 2008-2011
Patents and technology disclosures
  • TwinVision: System for Persistent Spatial Digital Twins from Vision Data, Singapore Patent Application No. 10202503304X, 2025
  • ComputeNet: A Distributed Computing Platform for Scalable AI Training and Hosting, TD/EPD/2026/351
  • Layered Cellular Automata, US Pat. Pend 18/302,792
  • Tectonic Origami, US 2018/0132583 A1
  • Magnetic Well Bearing, US Patent, Sg Patent: 10201506823S
  • Technology Disclosures:
  • UV-Aware, Technology Disclosure: SINGAPORE.A0003.0.09.AUG.2018
  • Multi-phase Material Deposition Process, Technology Disclosure: SINGAPORE.A0001.0.18.MAY.2016
  • VTOL UAV Rotor Lock Mechanism, Technology Disclosure: SINGAPORE.A0002.0.19.MAY.2016
  • Carbon Filament Injection 3D printer, Technology Disclosure in process, 2018
Selected key publications
  • Camburn, B., He, Y., Raviselvam, S., Luo, J. and Wood, K. (2020). Machine learning-based design concept evaluation. Journal of Mechanical Design (JMD), 142 (3)
  • Tiong, E., Seow, O., Camburn, B., Teo, K., Silva, A., Wood, K.L., Jensen, D.D. and Yang, M.C. (2019). The Economies and Dimensionality of Design Prototyping: Value: Time, Cost, and Fidelity. JMD, 141(3).
  • He, Y., Camburn, B., Liu, H., Luo, J., Yang, M. and Wood, K. (2019). Mining and representing the concept space of existing ideas for directed ideation. Journal of Mechanical Design, 141(12).
  • Camburn, B., Arlitt, R., Anderson, D., Sanaei, R., Raviselvam, S., Jensen, D., Wood, K. (2018). Computer Aided Mind Map Generation Via Crowdsourcing and Machine Learning, Research in Engineering Design.
  • Camburn, B., & Wood, K. (2018). Principles of Maker and Diy Fabrication: Enabling Design Prototypes at Low Cost. Design Studies, 58 (2018) 63-88

Publications (last 5 years)
  • B. Camburn and I. Koh, “Design in the age of AI: Why human direction matters more than ever,” Design Business Chamber Singapore, Apr. 24, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://dbcsingapore.org/design-in-the-age-of-ai-why-human-direction-matters-more-than-ever/
  • P. Shende and B. Camburn, “Perceptual self-reflection in agentic physics simulation code generation,” arXiv:2602.12311 [cs], Feb. 2026. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2602.12311.
  • H. Yong and B. A. Camburn, “Predictive prototyping: Evaluating design concepts with ChatGPT,” arXiv:2601.12276 [cs], Jan. 2026. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2601.12276.
  • T. Willems, S. Khan, Q. Huang, B. Camburn, N. Sockalingam, and K. W. Poon, “To use or to refuse? Re-centering student agency with generative AI in engineering design education,” arXiv:2510.19342 [cs], Oct. 2025. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2510.19342.
  • A. Batura and B. Camburn, “Analogical saturation and affordance in ideation,” in Proc. ASME 2025 Int. Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conf. (IDETC-CIE), Anaheim, CA, USA, Aug. 17–20, 2025.
  • B. Camburn, “Universal physics simulation: A foundational diffusion approach,” arXiv:2507.09733 [cs.LG], Jul. 2025. doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2507.09733.
  • Z. Zhang, X. Du, W. Su, and B. Camburn, “Digital designer: Emulation of empathy-driven design with generative AI,” in Proc. 2025 IEEE Latin American Conf. on Internet of Things (LC-IoT), Fortaleza, Brazil, Apr. 25–28, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11118557.
  • Z. A. Connor and B. Camburn, “Exploring partitioning in subsystem prototyping,” in Proc. ASME 2022 Int. Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conf. (IDETC-CIE), Vol. 6: 34th Int. Conf. on Design Theory and Methodology (DTM), St. Louis, MO, USA, Aug. 14–17, 2022, paper V006T06A013, DETC2022-90247. doi: 10.1115/DETC2022-90247.
  • S. Raviselvam, D. Hwang, B. Camburn, K. Sng, K. Hölttä-Otto, and K. L. Wood, “Extreme-user conditions to enhance design creativity and empathy — Application using visual impairment,” International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 75–100, Apr. 2022 (online Jan. 11, 2022). doi: 10.1080/21650349.2021.2024093.
  • S. D. Sable and B. Camburn, “Topology generation for ion-thruster grids,” in AIAA Propulsion and Energy 2021 Forum, Virtual Event, Aug. 9–11, 2021, paper AIAA-2021-3419. doi: 10.2514/6.2021-3419.
  • D. Hwang, K. B. Perez, D. Anderson, D. Jensen, B. Camburn, and K. Wood, “Design principles for additive manufacturing: Leveraging crowdsourced design repositories,” ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, vol. 143, no. 7, p. 072005 (11 pp.), Jul. 2021 (online May 21, 2021), paper No. MD-20-1656. doi: 10.1115/1.4050873.
  • D. Hwang, C. A. Lauff, K. B. Perez, B. A. Camburn, and K. L. Wood, “Comparing the impacts of design principles for additive manufacturing on student and experienced designers,” International Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 1862–1876, 2020.
  • B. Camburn, R. Arlitt, D. Anderson, R. Sanaei, S. Raviselvam, D. Jensen, and K. L. Wood, “Computer-aided mind map generation via crowdsourcing and machine learning,” Research in Engineering Design, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 383–409, Oct. 2020 (online Jun. 3, 2020). doi: 10.1007/s00163-020-00341-w.
  • S. Srinivasan, Z. F. Li, Y. L. Han, and B. A. Camburn, “The impact of prototyping strategies on crowdfunding success,” in Proc. ASME 2020 Int. Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conf. (IDETC-CIE), Vol. 8: 32nd Int. Conf. on Design Theory and Methodology (DTM), Virtual, Online, Aug. 17–19, 2020, paper V008T08A045, DETC2020-22701. doi: 10.1115/DETC2020-22701.
  • C. A. Lauff, A. Collopy, A. Swee, Y. H. Wee, K. Teo, B. Camburn, L. Teo, D. D. Jensen, and K. L. Wood, “Design innovation in complex systems design: Integrating design thinking and systems thinking,” in Proc. ASME 2020 Int. Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conf. (IDETC-CIE) – Design Theory and Methodology Conf., Virtual/St. Louis, MO, USA, Aug. 17–19, 2020, paper DETC2020-52938.
  • B. Camburn, Y. He, S. Raviselvam, J. Luo, and K. Wood, “Machine learning-based design concept evaluation,” ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, vol. 142, no. 3, p. 031113 (12 pp.), Mar. 2020. doi: 10.1115/1.4045126.