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

这个早期的教师职业发展(CALEAR)项目将工程设计的早期制定阶段的研究与大学生的教育和对K-12青年的接触结合在一起。设计的早期阶段包括潜在设计概念的产生、探索和选择。在此阶段所做的决定可能会对设计过程的其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，以便可以对最终设计进行潜在评估。然而，早期设计过程本质上是高度流动性和非结构化的，这使得这种测量非常具有挑战性。这项调查采用的方法是分析早期设计过程本身的数据输出，而不是仅关注设计构件。目标是建立模型并确定评估概念生成和探索过程的方法。措施将通过分析设计过程信息来确定，例如从设计构件和设计文档中提取的文本、草图和原型。这些构件和设计过程的演变将被建模，并与过程度量相结合，以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进行，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开展基于项目的实践设计活动，以及通过制作促进工程的纪录片，让K-12学生接触早期工程设计。这些努力旨在吸引年轻人参与早期工程设计，并培养他们对工程的兴趣，并可能实现创新工程设计的新教学模式。

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.