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

马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校正在重新参与电子设计中心，该中心是2003年创建的I/UCRC中心。 领导机构是弗吉尼亚理工大学，该中心目前包括三所大学和大约17个行业成员。 NSF电子设计中心的使命和愿景是作为一个国家级的卓越中心，致力于制造产品的IT设计和实现。 电子设计涉及概念化，设计和实现产品（或系统）使用的方法和软件工具，允许远程和异构系统的互操作性，并支持分布式，多学科利益相关者之间的协作。马萨诸塞州大学（UMass）将带来中心四个重点领域中三个领域的专业知识，包括：新设计范式和流程、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，以实现分布式网络环境中工程工具和人员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央佛罗里达大学）的研究人员的联合研究工作都补充和加强了马萨诸塞大学的工作。拟议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，以及显著有助于研究生和本科生的成功发展和准备。 对学生的好处将包括将由此产生的工作融入课程和工程课程，以及实习机会。 该中心将为学生提供独特的体验，他们可以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.