Research Foci:
The Center for Design Research (CDR) is a partnership of engineering faculty (Leifer, Sheppard, Cutkowsky, Gerdes) and PhD candidate graduate students. CDR's aim is to advance the technologies and processes used in engineering design work, both in the engineering workplace and in the university setting. the research at CDR is concerned with the whole "life cycle" of an engineer, from the time a seventeen year old enters as a college freshman, to the time a veteran engineer is leading a multi-disciplinary research or product development team. the fundamental questions that guide the CDR research agenda are:
- What are design engineers really doing when they do design?
- Why are they engaged in those activities?
- when is learning taking place during these activities?
- How can information and communication technology help them?
- Put another way, how can we make design-engineering more effective?
This challenge holds whether it is the work of learning basic mechanics and applying it to a real-world design project, or managing a globally distributed design team.
Contact Information:
Professor Sheri Sheppard
Building 560
Panama Street
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-8475
Voice 650-723-4287
Email sheppard@cdr.standford.edu