An Iowa State University graduate is paving the way as a new type of designer in the auto industry. Adam Carlson from Davenport graduated from Iowa State with dual degrees in mechanical engineering and industrial design, which earned him the nickname of “Purple Squirrel” when he went to work at Ford Motor Company. “A purple squirrel is actually an H-R term to basically let management know that they are looking for something that is very hard to find,” Nelson says. He says the nickname was as unusual, but he knows why he got it.

“It was very hard to find somebody with an industrial design as well as mechanical engineering, so the nickname stuck. At this point they just call me Adam, it’s understood what I do, but it was quite the nickname to have right from the git go,” Nelson says. He says the work involved in dual degrees may be a reason why there aren’t more people like him.

“I think a lot of it is education, both degrees are each a four-year degree,” according to Nelson. “And it is very hard to find somebody who does both the technical side of the engineering as well as the aesthetic side of the design. So, it is utilizing both sides of the brain– both right and left.” Nelson says there also seems to be a tendency to have people focus on just one area of expertise.

“Yeah, I think we definitely pigeonhole individuals into a certain field,” Nelson says. “…For me it was something that I didn’t want, I wanted to do both. I wanted sketch and draw and create, as well as to actually understand the mechanical principles. To actually bring a product to life.” Nelson says knowing mechanical issues can help you create something on the design side quicker with less mistakes that have to be redone. For example, if a certain angle looks good on a car, but you know mechanically it may create more drag and higher gas mileage, you can change it early on.

“In the automotive industry prototypes are incredibly expensive. Usually you go to market and the first round of prototypes you use hard tooling, and if you make a mistake somewhere along the way and you have to throw out millions of dollars of tools for production, that gets incredibly expensive,” Nelson explains. While he may be a purple squirrel now, Nelson says there will be more and more openings for people who have the same skills.

“What we’re finding, is that we need more people who have an understanding of the virtual world and drawing up shapes, but also people can talk the language of engineering and communicate well. And it may not just be between design and engineering, but it also may be between design and business or engineering and business,” Nelson says. Nelson is 24-years-old and his work involves designing and building to deal with wind noise in cars.

(Radio Iowa)