Introduction

The CAD Lab is an interdepartmental laboratory in the School of Engineering with four major goals:

• the development of various engineering oriented applications using commercial/open CAD APIs to the manufacturing enterprise

• the integration and synthesis of CAD/CAM/CAE/PDM/ERP systems

• the study of the fundamental principles of product lifecycle management (PLM) including geometry modeling, virtual reality application in design, and knowledge-based information system

• the education of creative programming engineers.

Since its establishment in 2006, 2 Ph.D and 9 Master students have graduated from the lab. who conduct research and educate in the areas of analysis and development of the design and information system. The laboratory seeks to establish a rational foundation for field oriented design/information system based on a systematic understanding of the complex interactions among the many areas of information technology.

Opportunities for undergraduates and graduate students are available for thesis research and on-going projects. There are also a limited number of postdoctoral research positions.