Collaborative Research: Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for e-Design: IT Enabled Design and Realization of Engineered Products and Systems

马萨诸塞大学阿姆赫斯特分校（University of Massachusetts-Amherst）正在重新参与电子设计中心，该中心是I/UCRC于2003年创建的一个中心。该中心的领导机构是弗吉尼亚理工大学，目前包括三所大学和大约17个行业成员。美国国家科学基金会电子设计中心的使命和愿景是成为国家卓越的it设计和制造产品实现中心。电子设计包括概念化、设计和实现产品（或系统），使用方法和软件工具，允许远程和异构系统的互操作性，并支持分布的、多学科的利益相关者之间的协作。马萨诸塞大学（UMass）将在四个中心重点领域中的三个领域提供专业知识，包括：新设计范式和过程、设计优化和启用信息基础设施。麻省大学的研究人员将专注于与产品设计相关的工程本体的开发和应用，以实现工程工具和人员在分布式网络环境中的无缝协作和互操作性。其他中心机构（弗吉尼亚理工大学和中佛罗里达大学）的研究人员的联合研究工作既补充又加强了马萨诸塞大学的工作。拟议中的中心更新将使马萨诸塞大学继续其在中心的关键研究和领导作用，并为研究生和本科生的成功发展和准备做出重大贡献。对学生的好处包括将最终成果整合到课程作业和工程课程中，以及实习机会。该中心将为学生提供独特的体验，让他们能够与工业研究人员和工程师进行互动和合作。研究和教育成果将继续在全国范围内传播，并将对整个美国工业产生重大影响。

The University of Massachusetts-Amherst is renewing its participation in the e-Design center, an I/UCRC center that was created in 2003. The lead institution is Virginia Tech, and the center at present includes three universities and approximately seventeen industry members. The mission and Vision of the NSF Center for e-Design is to serve as a national center of excellence in IT-enabled design and realization of manufactured products. E-Design involves conceptualizing, designing and realizing a product (or system) using methods and software tools that allow for interoperability of remote and heterogeneous systems and support collaboration among distributed, multidisciplinary stakeholders. The University of Massachusetts (UMass) will bring expertise in three of the four Center thrust areas, including: New Design Paradigms and Processes, Design Optimization, and Enabling Information Infrastructure. Researchers at UMass will be focused on the development and application of engineering ontologies related to product design to enable seamless collaboration and interoperability of engineering tools and people in a distributed web-environment. The joint research efforts of researchers at the other Center institutions (Virginia Tech and University of Central Florida) both complement and strengthen the work at UMass. The proposed Center renewal will enable UMass to continue its key research and leadership role in the Center, as well as contribute significantly to the successful development and preparation of graduate and undergraduate students. Benefits to students will include integration of resulting work into coursework and engineering curricula, as well as internship opportunities. The center will provide a unique experience to students who can interact and collaborate with industrial researchers and engineers. Research and educational findings will continue to be disseminated nationally and will have a significant impact on US industry as a whole.