Planning Grant for an I/UCRC for joining the Center for e-Design
1034706 Wayne State University (WSU); Kim
Wayne State University (WSU) proposes to join the existing Center for e-Design that is currently comprised of Virginia Tech (lead), the University of Central Florida and the University of Massachusetts. The mission of the center is to create new tools, processes, and methodologies that will assist in generating higher quality products at lower costs.
The proposed research projects at the Wayne State site will engage faculty from five department, four engineering disciplines and anthropology. The stated focus on large industry and utilizing expertise in the achievement of design objectives for human use overlaps significantly with the current research in the e-Design Center. Wayne State brings unique strengths with top research scientists in fundamental and applied research, affiliated with several university centers and institutes.
Site research from Wayne State will be integrated into its broader graduate and undergraduate education endeavors to enhance students development and preparation. Wayne State University has a large minority population as well as a high percentage of female engineering graduates. (The reference to Wayne State as a "Carnegie I" institution reflects a very dated understanding of the Carnegie institutional designations, in that this designation has not been in use since 2000 www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/02/27/carnegie. Carnegie has classified the institution as "Research University/Very High", or RU/VH since 2005.). One of the I/UCRC team members is involved in the Wayne State K-12 STEM education curriculum innovation efforts. One research project will develop education toolkits to enhance high school student's multi-stage problem solving skills. The connection with the existing e-Design center assures an understanding of intellectual property management and effective management at the Center level.
Award Number: IIP-1034706 This planning grant supports Wayne State University to join the NSF Industry & University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) for e-Design and Realization of Engineered Products and Systems as a full university member research site. Intellectual Merit: The existing Center for e-Design was established to serve as a national center of excellence in design. Innovation and creativity are integrated with fundamental science, mathematics, and engineering principles in the development of new products and systems. The mission of this joint coalition is to create new tools, processes, and methodologies that will assist in generating higher quality products at lower costs, while also reducing the time associated with complex engineered products and systems. Three primary contributions of the center include: 1) fundamental research that focuses on creating methods, tools, and technologies to address modern industry needs by investigating four thrust areas: Enabling Information Infrastructure; New Design Paradigms and Processes; Design Optimization; Visualizing and Virtual Prototyping; 2) a research testbed that focuses on integration of interdisciplinary research to facilitate developed tools, methods, and technologies; 3) engineering education and technology transfers that focus on educating a new generation of engineers and scientists who can rapidly transfer results into usable applications for industry and government. The joint research efforts of faculty members at Wayne State, along with the faculty at the current e-Design Center member universities, forms a coalition that will achieve the following results: 1) inclusion of a multidisciplinary viewpoint needed to ensure the development of a new paradigm of excellence in the design of engineered products and systems; 2) realization of conceptual modeling tools aimed at reducing design cycle time and ensuring maximum achievement of design goals; 3) realization of an environment for optimal tradeoffs in design; 4) establishment of a critical mass of expertise focused on the development of an e-design modeling and simulation software and virtual prototyping tools. With the support of this planning grant, a strategic planning meeting had a notable company recruitment focus. The Wayne State team developed a comprehensive agenda. At the planning meeting, faculty and researchers from Industrial and Systems Engineering, Computer Science, Design Anthropology, and Electrical and Computer Engineering academic units at Wayne State presented current and potential projects. After each presentation, LIFE (Level of Interest and Feedback Evaluation) forms were collected from the companies. These forms were used to strategically inform our continued conversations with the companies. In the planning stage, the Wayne State team identified ten different projects in the area of design innovation, design for sustainable technology, and virtual build design based on the industry’s demands and needs. From the planning meeting, two additional projects were identified based on the company representatives’ inputs, who attended the planning meeting. With the project portfolio, the Wayne State team continued to dialogue with companies and listened carefully to the actual company needs. Based upon these significant efforts, the Wayne State team selected five projects and also created new projects in the areas of technology planning, life-cycle integration, and visualization. The Wayne State team developed a partnership based marketing strategy and the team has been approaching companies that are in partnerships and have mutual complementary working relationships. Broader Impact: Site research from Wayne State’s Center for e-Design aims to be integrated into its broader graduate and undergraduate educational endeavors to enhance students’ development and preparation. When Wayne State University becomes a full university research site of the center, the center research will be integrated into existing educational curriculum thereby enriching course content and student learning experiences in: design process and problem solving, decision making in engineering design, advanced design theory and computational issues, IT and knowledge engineering for design, and global product development. Wayne State provides excellent industry-driven internship opportunities to its graduate and undergraduate students. We also specialize in K-12 STEM education curriculum innovation and instructional design methodology. The very nature of our university helps to broaden the participation of underrepresented groups: We are an urban, Carnegie I research university with a large minority population, fulfilling a unique niche in providing access to a high-caliber education at relatively low cost. We maintain a policy of strong diversity within the Center, including continued partnership and recruitment of minority and women graduate and undergraduate students. The PI and other Wayne State faculty continue their long history of recruiting underrepresented students, including partnering with a number of university programs aimed at providing research opportunities for these students.
