Collaborative Research: E-Volving the Open Workshop on Decision-Based Design

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This award provides funding for the continued conduct of an open workshop on decision-based design. The workshop will be conducted via a series of face-to-face meetings, and with continuing interaction between all interested parties via electronic and Internet technologies throughout the three-year continuation period. Specifically, the workshop will include the continuation of a web site for conduct of the workshop. A primary component of the workshop will be the continual, open development and dissemination of the philosophical, theoretical and practical results of the workshop discussions and activities. The workshop will continue to concentrate on a diversity of research efforts directed at the development of a theory of engineering design based on the emerging notion that engineering design is a decision making process amenable to the tools and theories that have developed in the field of decision theory. Specific goals for this phase of the workshop include continued development of a mathematically sound theory of engineering design, the building of a repository of foundational materials (a lexicon, case studies, references, text materials), the establishment of ties between decision-based design and other areas of science, and the transfer of decision-based design tools to industry. The workshop web site address will be located at: http://dbd.eng.buffalo.edu/This workshop will provide new directions for research and education in engineering design. New theoretical concepts should lead to approaches to engineering design that will enable the design of better products, products that have greater market appeal, cost less, have lower environmental impact, and that are more friendly for customers. Further, these concepts are likely to lead to entirely new approaches to engineering education, with a strong focus on engineering design as a decision making process.