Prof. David R Wallace

Professor Wallace's research focuses on using computation to elucidate alternatives and tradeoffs in integrated, concurrent product development which involves the collaboration of many organizations and experts throughout the world. His goal is to enable the rapid construction of integrated product development models that reduce the time for concurrent design iterations and improve overall system/enterprise performance. The research allows experts to use their own tools to assess their part of a problem and also make their results available as services to other team members on the WWW. When team members link their services together, the resulting network forms a dynamic concurrent computational model that simulates the performance of the product and the development process.

His product design research focuses on using computation to elucidate alternatives and make integrated tradeoffs in product development, which involves the collaboration of many organizations and experts throughout the world. This research allows experts to use their domain-specific tools, while making their design and analysis capabilities available as interactive services to other team members via the WWW. When team members link their services together, the resulting network forms a dynamic concurrent computational model, simulating the performance of the product and the development process. A software prototype based on this process (called DOME) is currently being deployed in pilot applications at Ford Motor Company, the Navy, Polaroid, and LG Electronics. Additionally, it is being applied to environmentally conscious design with research partners at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University of Tokyo.