This workshop will provide a forum for researchers in the fields of Engineering Design and Systems Engineering to assess the state of the art, examine the future challenges and opportunities, and identify promising directions for future research. In addition, the workshop will offer junior researchers and current NSF grantees from the Engineering and Systems Design and Systems Science programs the opportunity to showcase their research work in poster sessions to receive feedback from their peers and NSF program directors. The workshop will have a long-term impact by leading the research community towards the most important and impactful challenges and opportunities in systems engineering and design, which, in turn, will amplify the impact of future NSF funding in this field.
The workshop will enable the systems engineering and design community to exchange ideas and explore future directions, while helping individual investigators determine important research topics in systems engineering and design, and more specifically, research topics that are within the scope of the Engineering and Systems Design and Systems Science programs at NSF. The workshop will bring together about 150 researchers who will be divided into small groups to discuss three specific topics. First, workshop participants will discuss design research methodology, addressing difficult issues that require community consensus such as: What are the characteristics of good research and good research methodologies in systems engineering and design? Or, how best to collect evidence in support of validation of research claims in systems engineering and design? Second, researchers will identify challenges and opportunities for future systems engineering and design research: What are the gaps in current knowledge and understanding of systems engineering and design? Or, what are the opportunities for the community to have a significant impact on systems engineering and design practice? Third, workshop participants will discuss how well aligned these opportunities and future research directions are with the current expertise within the community and with the NSF Engineering and Systems Design and Systems Science program descriptions.
