Dr. Duane D. Dunlap,
Professor & Department Head
Ed.D., Virginia Tech
M.S., Louisiana State University
B.S., The Ohio State University
Email: ddunlap@wcu.edu
165 Belk
828.227.2159

Dr. Duane D. Dunlap is an international expert in automatic identification and data capture systems (AIDC) education, system evaluation, design, and project integration management. Dr. Dunlap is Professor and Department Head of Engineering Technology at Western Carolina University. Prior to joining the leadership team at Western Carolina, Dr. Dunlap was at Purdue University for 11 years where he was on the IT faculty and served as the Director for the Weekend Master’s Degree Program in the School of Technology. His research interests in AIDC include linear and 2-D bar code system integration, PocketPC/Palm computing coupled to wireless networks and intranets, Voice-over IP (VoIP), biometric device type I/II testing, and RFID. He is the co-author of two books and author of numerous refereed articles.

This past fall, Dr. Dunlap worked with over 30 manufacturing, distribution, and construction companies to improve their data collection management practices. He has been invited to the Northern Development Commission in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (UK) and the British Ministry of Defense, the International Warehouse of the Future Conference, the National Conference of Fluid Power Distributors Association, the Council of Fleet Specialist Distributors, the American Supply Association’s Management Development Program, ID EXPO, ID INFO, SCAN-TECH ASIA and USA, and Symbol Technologies International User Group Meetings to share and discuss actual automatic identification and data capture technology system project solutions and industry overviews. He has conducted a bar code workshop with 60 plant managers from China and has worked as a bar code data capture system advisor for Caterpillar, Inc.; Subaru-Isuzu Automotive (SIA); Firestone Industrial Products, and Cummins Incorporated. The 2-D bar code data capture project he perfected at SIA was an automobile manufacturing world first in using PDF417 for receiving materials from tier one suppliers. His international presentations have also included presenting automatic identification and data capture technologies, applications, and solutions at both the 5th and 7th International Conferences on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing in Stuttgart, Germany, and in Middlesbrough, UK, and The International Conference on the use of Automatic Data Collection in Construction.

Dr. Dunlap is past President of the Lafayette, IN Society of Manufacturing Engineers. He received his bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University, his master's degree from Louisiana State University, and his doctorate from Virginia Tech. Prior to coming to Purdue, he was employed under NASA's Graduate Fellowship Research Program, working out of Virginia Tech and NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton Roads, VA.