Contact Information

Research Interests

My interests are broad and span a number of fields within and beyond engineering.  I am interested in design as it applies to both mechanical systems and the aerospace field.  Within the interests of the SRL, I am most interested in product architectures, product lifecycle management, and in what we have termed “strategic design” –a new idea that we have been exploring for the last few years.  The basic idea behind strategic design is that all conceptual design activities should take place with as many features of the future design environment as possible taken explicitly into account, meaning that new technologies, new market segments, and new competition all should be modeled wherever possible.  My PhD research into redesign decision support is an outgrowth of this idea.  Through this research, I am hoping to create a method capable of helping designers identify the design changes that will best position a redesigned system for not just the current set of goals but also for future demands, minimizing redesign efforts over the life of the system.

Some of the important research areas that need to be addressed if serial redesign decisions are to be supported are:

• Balancing of multiple conflicting redesign goals;
• Handling of multiple redesign options and potentially multiple feasible redesign solutions;
• Taking into account the relative difficulty of different redesign options;
• Encouraging commonality between product family members when it has varying value depending on the schedule whereby products are released; and
• Solving an inherently large and complex redesign problem involving multiple systems.

All of these issues will be addressed in my dissertation. The method I will propose is based upon previous research into product family design, constructal-inspired design, commonality measurement, value theory, and Decision Support Problems.

In the fall of 2002, I finished my Master’s thesis, which covers some work done over the previous two years to scope out the idea of strategic design and make the first few steps towards creating a systematic method for strategic design.  The work described in my thesis involved the combined use of a systematic conceptual design method called the Technology Identification Evaluation and Selection (TIES) and a utility-based selection method (the utility-based selection Decision Support Problem) as well as the implementation of these methods on a platform-independent distributed computing framework called X-DPR.  These methods were exercised in three problems, two involving the design of aircraft and one the design of a beverage merchandiser. 

My main goal has always been to eventually work in the aerospace industry. In pursuit of this goal, I have done some graduate coursework in the aerospace department at Georgia Tech, used aircraft design examples in my research, and even studied abroad in Russia for two weeks during the summer of 2002 as part of a special program to familiarize students with Russian aerospace capabilities. Later in 2002, I worked as a visiting researcher at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA.  I worked in a multidisciplinary design and optimization group in the Analytical and Computational Methods Branch of the Structures and Materials Competency.  My work focused on methodological improvements to a piece of software that executes Bi-Level Integrated System Synthesis (BLISS) for the design of a second-generation reusable launch vehicle.  I also worked on expanding this case study to look at the impact of new technologies on the resulting design.

My work has been supported by a number of sources, including Office of Naval Research grant #N000140110267, Rohm & Haas, Inc., and National Science Foundation Grant DMI #0085136.  I am also a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a Georgia Tech Presidential Fellow. 

Publications

Conference Papers

• Chamberlain, M. K., Williams, C. B., Mistree, F., 2004, “Strategic Design: Leveraging Market Forecasts and Emerging Technologies in Engineering Design Applications,” The 10^th AIAA/ISSMO Symposium on Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization, August 30^th – September 1^st, Albany, NY, AIAA-2004-4652.
• Panchal, J., Chamberlain, M. K., Rosen, D. W., Allen, J.K., and Mistree, F., 2002, “A Service Based Architecture for Information and Asset Utilization in Distributed Product Realization,” The 9^th AIAA/ISSMO Symposium on Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization, September 4-6, Atlanta, GA, AIAA-2002-5480. 

• Seepersad, C. C., Cowan, F. S., Chamberlain, M. K., and Mistree, F., “Strategic Design:  Leveraging and Innovation for a Changing Marketplace,” Computer-Based Design:  Engineering Design Conference 2002, T. M. M. Shahin, ed., King’s College London, UK. 
• Chamberlain, M. K., Williams, C. B., Cowan, F. S., Mistree, F., 2001, "Orchestrating Learning in a Graduate Engineering Design Course," The 13th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology, ASME, September 9-12, Pittsburgh, PA, DETC2001/DTM-2037. 

Class Reports

• Chamberlain, M. K., Kulkarni, R., Williams, C. B., 2001, “STL Viewer,” ME 6104 Class Report, G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, A Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia.

• Chamberlain, M. K., Williams, C. B., Corbett, B. P., 2000, “Integrated Product and Process Design of Glass Door Beverage Merchandisers for Mass Customization,” ME 6101 Class Report, G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.

• Ahci, E., Chamberlain, M. K., Rostan, S., Siegenthaler, E., 2000 “Design of an 800 Passenger VLT,” AE 6370 Class Report, Aerospace Engineering Department, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.

Presentations

• Chamberlain, M.K., "An Approach to Decision Support for Strategic Redesign," Georgia Tech Savannah 1st Annual Research Day, April 13th, 2007. [poster image]

• Chamberlain, M.K., "An Approach to Decision Support for Strategic Redesign," Presentation to the Board of Directors of GT Savannah, October 14th, 2005. [poster image]
  

• Chamberlain, M.K., "An Approach to Decision Support for Strategic Redesign," PhD Proposal Presentation, July 29th, 2005. [pdf]

• Chamberlain, M.K., “A Step Towards Web-Based Strategic Design,” MS Thesis Presentation, August 19th, 2002. [pdf]

Master of Science Thesis

• Chamberlain, M. K., 2002, “A Step Towards Web-Based Strategic Design,” MS Thesis, G.W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.

Other Information

Winning entries to the ASME DETC Student essay contest, “A Scientific Formalism for Product Realization in a Global Manufacturing Enterprise”:

• Williams, C.B. and M.K. Chamberlain, 2001, “Planning for the Global Product Realization and Manufacturing Enterprise of 2020.”

• Chamberlain, M.K., 2003, “A Flexible Platform for Synthesis of Design Strategies for the Year 2020.”

Please take a look at my resume in either a one-page or two-page.