January 11, 2006 —

Maria Yang, an Assistant Professor in the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, is the recipient of the National Science Foundation's prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award. This five-year, $400,000 award is effective July 1, 2006, and extends until June 30, 2011. The NSF CAREER Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the Foundation's most prestigious awards to support the early career-development activities of the teacher-scholars whom most effectively integrate research and education within the mission of their respective organizations.

 

USC's Epstein ISE Department and the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering have partnered to deliver a unique interdisciplinary MS program in Product Development Engineering. Prof. Yang's CAREER project, "A Design Data Analysis Approach to Early Stage Design Process Modeling," will determine models and measures for the formulation phase of the engineering design process. Decisions made during this early stage can have strong impact on the later phases of design, but the early stage design process is by nature rapidly evolving and unstructured, making such measurements challenging. Measures will be determined through analysis of design process information, such as text, sketches, and prototypes drawn from design artifacts and documentation. These models and process measures will eventually serve as indicators of potential design outcomes. Effective engineering design process is critical for innovative product development, and the results of this resea rch will have potential applications to a wide range of industries and products, and on instruction.