CAREER: Trend-Mining Design - Foundations for Modeling the Mutual Influence between Pre-Life Design and End-of-Life Recovery of a Sustainable Product Portfolio

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The research objective of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award is to provide foundations for modeling the mutual influence between pre-life design and end-of-life recovery of complex, sustainable product portfolios. This objective will be achieved by: 1) establishing the mutual link between pre-life design and end-of-life recovery for a portfolio of products; 2) characterizing the evolving, massive-scale preference/usage/recovery data that can capture dynamic trend in the design and recovery process; and 3) optimal platforming (i.e., component sharing decision making) for pre-life portfolio design and end-of-life recovery in a simultaneous manner.If successful, the results will ensure that sustainable product portfolio design will be realized at a much faster pace with economic justification, as well as environmental stewardship with regulatory compliance. The outcome will also provide a new business model (green and sustainable) whereby a company is compelled to close the loop of product design and recovery. This will be achieved by making recovery a part of the business model, due to its potential profitability, rather than outsourcing or ignoring it. Industrial impact will be realized with partners in product design/manufacturing, systems modeling and applications, and software and computing. Educational impact will be realized in problem-based learning of engineering design, educating graduate students, and mentoring minority students. Outreach effort will be realized at the local and national levels via a new, Cool Design after school program, in partnership with a local elementary school.