R. Stone, I. Tumer, NSF CNS-Industry/Univ Coop Res Centers #1362167 (2014)

Oregon State University (OSU) will be joining the Center for e-Design IUCRC as a full university member research site. The mission and vision of the existing NSF Center for e-Design is to research and develop methods and tools that support the realization of a new design paradigm that can be used to develop new engineered products and systems. This new paradigm allows design and product realization to be customer driven in a collaborative e-design environment that supports transparent analysis, as well as virtual simulation and prototyping. This new design paradigm encompasses consideration of the entire life cycle of the product or system under development. The Center researches and develops a number of enabling technologies to support the proposed e-design paradigm. OSU has faculty and student researchers working in areas that are synergistic with the mission and vision of the existing Center for e-Design. The team is interdisciplinary, including 24 researchers from seven schools and departments across and several university colleges and institutes. Research activities of the OSU team will especially strengthen the Centers efforts in the area of process, product, and complex system design, analysis, and optimization. The specific needs within the Center to be met by the OSU team are focused in the following areas: 1) System Design Analysis and Optimization, 2) Decision Analysis; 3) Computational Design and Innovation. The addition of OSU strengthens the Center for e-Design and its role as a significant national resource capable of the following results: 1) inclusion of a multi-disciplinary viewpoint needed to ensure the development of a new paradigm of excellence in the design of engineered products and/or systems; 2) realization of conceptual modeling tools aimed at reducing design cycle time and ensuring maximum achievement of design goals for human use; 3) realization of an environment for economic and supply chain design optimization; 4) establishment of a critical mass of expertise focused on the development of an e-Design modeling and simulation software platform and virtual prototyping tools, as well as strategies for achieving simulation based acquisition.

The proposed effort will contribute significantly to the successful development and preparation of graduate and undergraduate students across seven schools and departments. Results of this research effort will be integrated into the educational curriculum to enrich the student learning experiences in design, modeling and simulation, decision analysis, rapid prototyping, manufacturing, and simulation based acquisition courses. Students associated with the Center for e-Design will receive career development opportunities, to include laboratory and field studies, attendance and presentations at interdisciplinary conferences and workshops, a design colloquium series, participation in interdisciplinary activities and journal publications, as well as training in the ethical conduct of research. The addition of OSU to the Center contributes to the diversity of the Center. One the co-PIs as well as over 25% of the participating faculty are women, typically underrepresented in engineering. The PI and other OSU faculty will emphasize involvement of women and minority graduate and undergraduate students. Research and educational findings will be shared with the industry and the center will work towards the technology transfer.