Chen Named Wilson-Cook Endowed Professor in Engineering Design

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Wei Chen, professor of mechanical engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern, has been named the Wilson-Cook Endowed Professor in Engineering Design.

Chen's research goal is to develop rational design methods based on optimization techniques and statistical methods for use in engineering design and manufacturing problems. Her current research topics include simulation-based design under uncertainty, model validation, stochastic multi-scale analysis and design, robust shape and topology, optimization, multidisciplinary optimization, consumer choice modeling and enterprise-driven decision-based design.

Previously, Chen worked to establish the Integrated Design Automation Laboratory and organized the National Science Foundation Interdisciplinary Graduate Design Conference in conjunction with the recently held Design: Chicago. She is the co-founder and now serves as the Director of the interdisciplinary doctoral cluster in Predictive Science and Engineering Design (PS&ED). Chen is the author of more than 80 refereed journal papers. She is a review editor of Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization and an associate editor of the Journal of Engineering Optimization.

Chen is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, among them the Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award from the Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE) and the Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). She is a fellow of ASME, an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and a member of SAE International. She is an elected member of the ASME Design Engineering Division Executive Committee and an elected advisory board member of the Design Society, an international design research community.

She joined Northwestern's faculty in 2003.