CAREER: A Design Data Analysis Approach to Early Stage Design Process Modeling

这个早期教师职业发展（Career）项目将工程设计早期制定阶段的研究与大学生教育和面向K-12青少年的推广相结合。设计的早期阶段包括产生、探索和选择潜在的设计概念。在这个阶段做出的决定会对设计过程的剩余部分及其结果产生重大影响。理想情况下，可以在设计的早期阶段跟踪单个设计中的更改，以便对最终设计进行潜在的评估。然而，早期设计过程本质上是高度流动和非结构化的，这使得此类测量非常具有挑战性。本调查采用的方法是分析早期设计过程本身的数据输出，而不是单独关注设计工件。目标是建立模型并确定评估概念生成和探索过程的方法。度量将通过分析设计过程信息来确定，例如从设计工件和设计文档中绘制的文本、草图和原型。这些工件和设计过程的演变将被建模，并与过程度量相结合，作为潜在设计结果的指示器，并用作动态设计过程的反馈。这项工作将与工程公司积极合作，包括航空航天和汽车行业的公司。与这项研究密切相关的是，通过与创新科技博物馆等组织的实践、基于项目的设计活动，以及通过制作促进工程的纪录片视频，努力让K-12学生接触到早期的工程设计。这些努力旨在吸引年轻人参与早期工程设计，培养他们对工程的兴趣，并有可能实现创新工程设计的新教学范式。

This Early Faculty Career Development (CAREER) project integrates research in the early, formulation stage of engineering design with education of university students and outreach to K-12 youth. The early phase of design includes the generation, exploration, and selection of potential design concepts. Decisions made during this stage can have strong impact on the remainder of the design process and its outcomes. Ideally, changes in an individual design can be tracked over the early phase of design so that potential assessments about the final design can be made. However, early stage design process is by nature highly fluid and unstructured, making such measurements very challenging. The approach that this investigation takes is to analyze the data output of the early stage design process itself, rather than focus on the design artifact alone. The goal is to model and determine methods for evaluating the concept generation and exploration process. Measures will be determined through analysis of design process information, such as text, sketches, and prototypes drawn from design artifacts and design documentation. The evolution of these artifacts and design process will be modeled and combined with process measures to serve as indicators of potential design outcomes and used as feedback for the dynamic design process. This work will be conducted in active collaboration with engineering companies, including those in the aerospace and automotive industries. Closely linked to this research are efforts to expose K-12 students to early stage engineering design via hands-on, project-based design activities with organizations such as the Tech Museum of Innovation, and through a documentary video production that promotes engineering. These endeavors aim to engage young eople in early stage engineering design and cultivate their interest in engineering in general, and will likely achieve new teaching and learning paradigms for innovative engineering design.