Stephanie Charo Chiesi (Tucson, AZ) - Award for her doctoral research to bridge the gap between research and implementation in advancing the practice of SE.

Stephanie’s research looks at how digital engineering can shorten project timelines. Companies and government agencies are adopting digital methods to update their systems. A significant part of this is creating connected data environments to increase design speed. However, it may also uncover hidden issues, and we do not yet have a quick way to see how digital engineering affects project speed or efficacy. 

Her approach uses modeling and simulation to abstract the development stages and enable measuring effort and time in different digital engineering scenarios. This work can find problems in decision-making caused by digital changes and help evaluate new processes that cannot be quickly attempted in real life.

Hossein Taramsari (Jersey City, NJ) – Award for his original approach to addressing sustainability in product design. Doctoral research was undertaken to enable a comprehensive framework for integrating multiple dimensions of sustainability into the product design process.

Hossein's research addresses the current limitations of sustainable design practices and offers a structured methodology for assessing and improving sustainability outcomes. By incorporating system thinking and system dynamic techniques, the research introduces new perspectives on addressing sustainability challenges. 

The developed framework is to provide a deeper understanding of sustainable design systems’ complex interactions and feedback loops. The multi-domain matrix (MDM) and automated life cycle assessment (LCA) tools offer enhanced decision-support capabilities. These tools enable designers to quantify the impacts of design decisions on sustainability and make informed choices that balance environmental, social, and economic factors.