Workshop and Grantees Meeting: Positioning Engineering Design and Systems Engineering Research for Sustained Societal Impact; West Lafayette, Indiana; October 7-8, 2019

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

The objective of this workshop is to develop and articulate research issues and methodologies in engineering design and systems engineering (EDSE) for high impact in the emerging workplace and society. Recently, there has been tremendous technological progress in automation, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality. These technological advances are changing the environment in which engineering designers work, the kinds of activities they perform, the kinds of products they design, the information they have access to, and the way in which they interact with machines, and communicate with each other. Emerging technologies are not only enabling new types of products and systems, but also new ways of designing them. The workshop will provide a forum to foster dialog among leading experts on how EDSE research can leverage the new opportunities and what the critical research challenges are created by these emerging changes. The dialog will enable the convergence of diverse perspectives from the EDSE research community, the foundational sciences, and application domains. The workshop will build on the outcomes of prior workshops, and will focus on the research implications of emerging trends impacting the workplace of future engineers and the societal context for which new products and systems will be designed. Expected outcomes of the workshop include the identification of ways for enhancing the impact of the EDSE-funded research, the determination of new basic research opportunities with high potential impact, and the establishment of high quality research standards to maximize individual and collective impact. These outcomes will be disseminated through a workshop report, an online web-based portal, and journal articles. Through various avenues of dissemination, this workshop will promote the teaching and training of faculty researchers from universities across the United States, which can impact their research endeavors, teaching activities, and position them for greater societal impact. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.