HEIL C David

As a department teacher and director of the Shonan Surfboard Research Center (6/2014), I am in-charge of instructing students in how to make sports equipment and other items (monozukuri) using FRP (plastics) and other materials. My primary research area is manufacturing competitive surfboards, both long and short boards, but I also study soccer shin guards, surfboard fins, table tennis paddles, body surfing hand planes, air planes, yachts, skateboards, surfboard fins, and furniture manufacturing. I am especially interested in surfboard designs for competition, surfboard stringer materials and configurations to enhance performance, and flexible longboard fins. I have been teaching about and manufacturing surfboards for approximately seven years (2016) and have manufactured surfboards that have won or placed high in collegiate surfing competitions. I am a professional English teacher by training and teach language skill courses and content-based language courses for engineering students. I introduced surfboard manufacturing to the university as a way to get students interested in engineering; and because of its popularity, it grew into a solid academic area of study within the department.