Prospectus

Executive Summary

Background

Activities

Organization Chart

Sponsorship, Financing, and Budget

Policies and Practices

Executive Summary

An Overview:

The Department of Industrial Engineering at Rutgers University and the Department of Industrial Engineering at Arizona State University have joined in establishing a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Quality and Reliability Engineering. The objectives of the Center are (a) to explore, develop, and conduct research to provide innovative and practical ways to improve components, products, and systems; (b) to foster collaborative research projects between industrial and academic scientists; and (c) to promote an interdisciplinary and intra-university approach to training students in quality and reliability engineering research and developments.

The active projects listed in Section II form the research agenda, which has been approved by the Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) made up of company members. This agenda focuses on the development of new generic methodologies that improve products during its design, production and manufacturing, and post production phases. Issues related to multivariate quality characteristics, product reliability prediction, software reliability and validation, on-line quality engineering, product and process optimization, and product degradation are being investigated. Other funded projects include multivariate quality control, control of startup period of batch processes, monitoring of low PPM processes, reliability prediction using accelerated testing, software reliability, and reliability optimization.

The organization structure of the Center comprises an Industrial Advisory Board (IAB), Center Site Directors at both universities, and a University Policy Committee. The Industrial Advisory Board, consisting of one voting member from each participating company, provides advice on research priorities and makes recommendations on projects to be funded. The Center Director, in collaboration with the IAB, sets goals and future directions of research, manages the day-to-day operation of the Center, and acts as a liaison with member companies as well as the university administration. The University Policy Committee assures that the Center’s activities are consistent with academic policies and procedures of the university. Dr. Donald McCabe, Professor of the Graduate School of Management, of The Rutgers University Campus in Newark, serves as the external NSF evaluator of the Center.

The Center is financed by member companies, each contributing $30,000 per year. Rutgers University returns 61% of the indirect cost to the Center and the Arizona State University provides full support for two graduate assistants at a cost of $48,900 per year.

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