The Design Automation Lab spun-off from the CAE & Expert Systems Lab in 1993. Its predecessor, the CAE & Expert Systems Lab was established in 1985 with seed money from the National Science Foundation. The charter of the lab was to work on technologies that would result in closer interaction between design and manufacturing. Therefore, the lab initiated research programs in Features Technology, Intelligent CAD systems, Concurrent Engineering, DFM, and Tolerance Modeling. The current focus of the lab has been extended to include the problem of Engineering Data Management in a heterogeneous, distributed environment and computer modeling of the design process, and design-manufacturing communications. In 1993 the lab received a major boost in facilities as a result of an Equipment Grant from Hewlett-Packard, which has brought state-of-the-art HP computing power and I/O devices to the lab. In 1997 new computing equipment was added to keep the lab up to date. The lab is also used in undergraduate teaching in the areas of CAD/CAM, Databases, Software Engineering, and Finite Element Analysis. The lab also moved to its current location in Goldwater Center for Science & Engineering on the ASU Tempe Campus.

Lab Director: Prof Jami J. Shah

Lab Location: Goldwater Center GWC 477

RA Offices: GWC 476, 482

Admin Office: GWC 460