IUCRC Center for e-Design: IT Enabled Design and Realization of Products and Systems

Suny At Buffalo, Amherst NY

Investigators

Abstract

The University of Buffalo-SUNY (UB) is planning to join the Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) entitled "Center for e-Design and Realization of Engineered Products and Systems (e-Design)" which currently is a multi- university center comprised of Virginia Tech (lead institution), the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the University of Central Florida, and Carnegie Mellon University. The mission and vision of the existing e-Design Center is to research and develop methods tools that support the realization of a new design paradigm that can be used to develop new engineered products and systems. UB requests funding for becoming a site of the NSF Center for e-Design under the leadership of Professor Kemper E. Lewis. The NSF multi-university IUCRC for e-Design addresses the science and engineering challenges that limit the evolution of a new product/system design approaches that are essential for efficient, rapid and reliable design and manufacture in a highly competitive global environment. The University of Buffalo Site brings emphasis in product visualization and simulation, immersive environments, decision networks, information technology to support design decision making, and motion simulation to the existing center. The research efforts at UB will support the e-Design center's long term goal of establishing a new paradigm where products/systems are conceived and produced in a cyber-enabled domain with the full participation of all key stake-holders including designers, manufacturers, engineers, OEMs and consumers. A multi-disciplinary team including eight academic departments is engaged. The research will have broader impact through a strong cohort of industry partners, including medical, foods and infrastructure companies. The research thrusts identified will produce tools useful to a wide range of industries. The proposed effort at UB will contribute to the successful development and preparation of graduate and undergraduate students. Students associated with the Center will receive career development opportunities, attendance of and presentations at interdisciplinary conferences and workshops, as well as training in the ethical conduct of research. The addition of UB also contributes to the diversity of the Center, with 38% of participating faculty being women. The PI and other UB faculty will continue to recruit underrepresented students, including partnering with a number of university programs aimed at providing research opportunities for these students.