Engineering Design & Optimization Group
332 Leonhard Building
Penn State University
University Park, PA 16802
(814) 863-7523 		A collaborative effort by faculty in:
Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering and
Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering
| Dr. Frecker's Projects | Dr. Simpson's Projects |
Research Links Funded Research



Applied Research Laboratory


Penn State College of Medicine at Hershey Medical Center


Laparoscopic Surgery
Dr. Mary Frecker's Current Projects (updated 6/20/07) (publications listed separately)

  • Precision Endosurgical Instruments


    • Dr. Tim Simpson     back to top

    • CAREER: Product Platform Modeling and Customization

      • Description: The research objectives in this CAREER Award are to establish a foundation for a decision-based approach to product family design and develop metamodeling strategies for web-based product platform customization. The first objective will investigate methods for generating product platform alternatives and modeling the associated costs, demand, and uncertainties of the products within the corresponding product family derived from each platform alternative. The second research objective will enable rapid customization of platform variants via the Internet. The educational objectives in this CAREER Award will engage students in problem-based learning through industry-focused projects in product family design and customization and assess the effectiveness of the proposed educational activities at enhancing student learning and student's attitudes toward lifelong learning. These educational objectives will be integrated within three undergraduate courses and one graduate course. Product dissection activities to expose freshmen and women and minority students in grades K-12 to design and product families will also be developed. Three industrial partners -- Durametal, Flowserve, and Ivalo Lighting -- will collaborate in the proposed research and educational activities.

      • Links: Graduate Students: Jaeil Park, Jessica Mulberger, Bryan D'Souza,

      • Funding Source: National Science Foundation, Design, Manufacturing, and Industrial Innovation (DMII) Division (DMI-0133923)

    • Impact of Metamodel-Driven Visualization on Design

      • Description: This grant provides funding to examine the impact of high speed, distributed graphical design environments on the efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction of the decision-making process during design optimization. These graphical design environments will be implemented using metamodels to enhance the speed of the visual design interfaces. Metamodels are simplified mathematical approximations of the input/output functions calculated by design analyses. The effect of response delay and the availability of a graphical representation of a design and its performance on design time, design quality, and the design process will be examined using a metamodel-driven graphical design environment. Students in both graduate and undergraduate courses will help assess various aspects of the graphical design environments within the context of three examples: the design of a bimorph actuator for minimally invasive surgical tools, the design of a desk lamp, and structural design using topology optimization. The desk lamp example will also involve collaboration with researchers from Ecole Centrale Paris in France to examine the effectiveness of graphical design environments for distributed design optimization.

      • Collaborators: Dr. Mary Frecker, Dr. Russell Barton, Dr. Ling Rothrock

      • Links: Graduate Students: Chris Ligetti, Gary Stump, Doo-Young Lee

      • Funding Source: National Science Foundation, Design, Manufacturing, and Industrial Innovation (DMII) Division

    • A Web-based Environment for Evaluating Alternative Fuel Technologies for Buses

      • Description: The objective in this research is to develop a web-based environment for evaluating combinations of alternative fuel technologies for buses. The project will take advantage of test data from over 150 buses tested at the Bus Testing and Research Center of the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute since its inception in 1989. The web-based environment will provide (a) an on-line database which users can query to search through previous bus test results and (b) a design evaluator to predict the impact of alternative fuel technologies on the performance and cost of a specific model of bus. The on-line database will be easily updateable to refine the accuracy of the statistical approximations used in the design evaluator as new data becomes available. The proposed research spans a two-year period to formalize the foundation for the web-based environment. A preliminary web site with sample data and an accompanying on-line survey will be implemented within the first six months of the project to entice users and gain feedback on the research objectives. Database creation and population, model construction and validation, and preliminary testing will follow to demonstrate feasibility and provide proof of concept.

      • Collaborators: The Pennsylvania Transportation Institute

      • Links: Graduate Students: Stella Clarke and Jyotirmaya Nanda

      • Web-site: http://edog.mne.psu.edu/pti/

      • Funding Source: Federal Transit Administration

    • Multidisciplinary Optimization in Simulation-Based Design

      • Description: The objective in this project is to investigate the use of multidisciplinary design optimization approaches and metamodeling techniques to facilitate simulation-based design of complex systems within a a distributed, heterogenous computer environment.

      • Collaborators: Applied Research Laboratory

      • Links: Graduate Students: Jay Martin and Mike Yukish

      • Funding Source: Office of Naval Research

    • Web Site Design Elements and their Impact on Consumer Brand Experience

      • Description: The objective in this research is to identify how web design elements and web interactions impact and influence the consumer's perception of brands. The study focuses on the websites of four computer manufacturing companies (Dell, IBM, Gateway, Apple).

      • Collaborators: Dr. Jennifer Chang and Dr. Arvind Rangaswamy

      • Links: Graduate Student: Jayesh Ramesh Tekchandaney

      • Funding Source: Smeal College of Business

    • Integrated Dimensional Engineering for Short-Run Castings

      • Description: The proposed work addresses the development, validation, and deployment of an integrated dimensional engineering methodology that can be effectively used by short-run jobbing foundries to significantly reduce lead-time. It builds upon on-going Defense Logistics Agency sponsored research at Penn State University. The on-going research is developing enhanced dimensional performance methodologies that address

      • Collaborators: Dr. Bob Voigt

      • Links: Graduate Student: Karthik Umapathy

      • Funding Source: American Metalcasting Consortium, sponsored by The Defense Logistics Agency

    • PReparing Engineering STudents to work In the Global Economy (PRESTIGE)

      • Description: PRESTIGE is designed to prepare engineering students for work in an economy that is increasingly global in nature. Global product design and development is taken as the content focus because it provides such a richly interdisciplinary entry into global engineering. The objectives of PRESTIGE are:
        • To enhance the knowledge of the participating students of the global economy and of engineering practice in various national economies.
        • To enhance the ability of the students to work with people in other countries and with people from other cultures.
        • To enhance the interest in students in embracing an international career.
        • To raise the performance level of the students in their work and work relationships.
        • To accelerate institutional change in participating universities towards supporting the first three objectives.

      • Collaborators: Prof. Richard Devon

      • Links: http://www.ecsel.psu.edu/Prestige/

      • Funding Source: U.S. Department of Education (FIPSE Program)
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      This page was last updated on June 20, 2007