Ezra's Round Table/Systems Seminar: James Allison (Illinois) - Scientific Discovery via Engineering Design Automation Experiments

Location

Frank H. T. Rhodes Hall 253

Description

Engineering design research utilizes scientific strategies to generate knowledge and tools for advancing engineering design practice. An active branch of design research concentrates on quantitative design automation methods. Most efforts so far have focused on creating the tools required to solve increasingly more difficult system design problems. Here a new perspective is presented: instead of regarding tools and our understanding of them as the primary research outcome, can we instead use design automation tools as a mechanism within a new approach to design science? As an example, consider the challenge of designing fundamentally new systems without design heritage or an expert knowledge base. Creation of unprecedented systems is a slow and risky process. Design researchers have analyzed historical design data to extract descriptive design knowledge. But how might we generate design knowledge for unprecedented systems? Design automation tools can (approximately) answer the question: Given a particular set of design conditions, how should the system be designed? Systematic design automation experiments can then be performed to generate normative design data. Because of this flexibility, design automation data may enable exploration of a wider range of questions that can be addressed using historical data. Here a few early examples will be introduced that demonstrate how design automation data could be used to extract useful design knowledge, with the objective of accelerating novel system development. Design examples will be drawn from wind energy systems, intelligent structures for spacecraft attitude control, and electro-thermal systems. Bio: James T. Allison is an assistant professor in the Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is the director of the Engineering System Design Lab. Professor Allison holds M.S. (2004) and Ph.D. (2008) degrees in mechanical engineering, and an M.S. (2005) in industrial and operations engineering, all from the University of Michigan. He also holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering (2003, University of Utah) and an A.A.S. in automotive technology (1998, Weber State University). He is the co-author of over 80 publications and the recipient of several awards, including the NSF CAREER Award, ASME Design Automation Young Investigator Award, ASME papers of distinction, and several teaching awards. Previous experience includes work in the automotive (Ford and GM) and the engineering software (MathWorks) industries. Professor Allison’s work focuses on the development and investigation of novel design methods for creating engineering systems with new technical capabilities, and for producing new design knowledge for unprecedented systems. Specific topics include system design optimization, integrated physical and control system design of active dynamic systems, system architecture design, topology optimization, design for additive manufacturing, and material system design. His investigations span a wide range of application domains, including automotive systems, power electronics, spacecraft design, manufacturing, renewable energy systems, and fluid systems.