Biography
Upon graduating from Clarkson University in 1985 with a BS degree in Interdisciplinary Engineering and Management, Mark embarked on a twenty year career in the telecom and Internet sectors where he had increasingly responsible roles in Program and Product Management in both multi-national and entrepreneurial organizations. While working in industry, Mark obtained an MBA from New York University (STERN) and also worked as an Adjunct Professor where he taught an array of technical and business courses. In 2007, Mark returned to academia to earn a PhD from the University of Cambridge (UK) as a member of the Engineering Design Centre (EDC). His dissertation focused on design process and, in particular, how companies utilize the planning activity to manage the complex product design and development process. Upon completing his PhD, Mark joined the National University of Singapore (NUS) as a Senior Research Fellow and member of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART). At NUS his research focused on using Design Structure Matrix (DSM) modeling and Flexibility analysis to enable better decision making capability and execution for successfully developing and growing organizations such as entrepreneurial start-ups or divisions within large multi-nationals. After completing his work at NUS, Mark joined New York University (NYU) as an Industry Assistant Professor and Program Director of the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering programs while teaching an array of courses including Design Strategies, Technology Strategy, Enterprise Application Integration and Project Management. Mark has recently returned to NUS as an Associate Professor of Practice where he is a member of the Innovation and Design Programme (iDP) where his responsibilities include teaching the DCP Project module which focuses on the conceptualization, implementation and realization of an engineering design solution to solve a real problem.
Interests
Product Design, Product Management, Entrepreneurship, Project Management
Selected Research Publications
DE LESSIO, M.P., WYNN, D.C, and CLARKSON, P.J., (2019) Modelling the planning system in design and development, Research in Engineering Design, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp 227 – 249
KOH, E.C.Y., DE LESSIO, M.P., (July 2018) Fixation and distraction in creative design: the repercussions of reviewing patent documents to avoid infringement, Research in Engineering Design, Vol. 29, Issue 3, pp 351 – 366
DE LESSIO, M.P., CARDIN, M.A., ASTAMAN, A. and DJIE, V. (2015) A Process to Analyze Strategic Design and Management Decisions Under Uncertainty in Complex Entrepreneurial Systems, Systems Engineering, Vol. 18, No. 6, pp 604 – 623
DE LESSIO, M.P., (2016) “Planning the Product Design Process” presented at the International Design Conference (Design’16), Dubrovnik, Croatia