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Research at MIT
Furthering broadband Internet equity. Uncovering obstacles to build-to-order cars. Ratcheting up lean production to the aerospace enterprise level. These diverse research interests fall under the aegis of the Center for Technology, Policy, and Industrial Development (CTPID). This spring, CTPID research is in the forefront of several new collaborative ventures:
Materials Systems Lab (MSL): PI Joel Clark, professor of Materials Science and Engineering, will co-direct a new joint lab funded by a five-year General Motors Corp. grant. The lab will develop advanced material processing and manufacturing systems for global automotive operations based on MSL-developed models.
Internet and Telecoms Convergence (ITC): Program PI David Clark, Senior Research Scientist at the Lab for Computer Science, is co-directing a new MIT-wide Communications Futures Program that will draw on ITC's expertise in economic and policy analysis.
MIT Information Quality (MIT IQ): Director Richard Wang, CTPID Principal Research Scientist, this spring launched a certificate program to train information quality professionals with support from the U.S. Navy and industry partners.
Industry and government partnerships like these are key to CTPID's efforts to support global economic growth and advance policies that preserve the environment and benefit society. Founded in 1985, CTPID's 10 programs aim to advance knowledge and to provide an enriched intellectual environment for MIT faculty and students. More than 160 faculty, researchers, and staff work with some 80 sponsors to define and resolve industry concerns and public policy issues.
Center research focuses on contemporary industrial problems-such as how to build safe, affordable, and environmentally friendly automobiles-that span social, natural, and technological interests. Research impact includes industry-wide changes prompted by the International Motor Vehicle Program's (IMVP) groundbreaking book, The Machine That Changed the World, and critical benchmarking studies. The Lean Aerospace Initiative, founded in 1993 to bring Machine's insights to a new industry, captured their decade of research in a 2002 book titled Lean Enterprise Value: Insights from MIT's Lean Aerospace Initiative. This year, ITC leaders, who spearheaded a national review of U.S. deployment practices published in 2002 as Broadband: Bringing Home the Bits, are sharing global lessons on the impact of high speed Internet access.
Some center programs like IMVP, a global research network currently hosting a Sloan Industry Fellow at MIT, have operated for decades. New efforts, such as the MIT Information Quality program (MIT IQ) are just getting started. MIT IQ, founded last fall to study information practices and find ways to make information more reliable, began Information Quality certificate training workshops in May.
CTPID Program Profiles
Cooperative Mobility Program: CMP is an international research program, headed by Associate Dean for Engineering Systems Daniel Roos, to support sustainable, multi-modal transportation systems that will provide the mobility necessary to foster global economic development. CMP research was a core component of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development-commissioned report, Mobility 2000. More information: http://esd.mit.edu/ctpid/cmp/cmp-home.htm.
Ford-MIT Alliance: CTPID researchers are among the leaders of the Institute-wide Alliance, which is financially administered by CTPID. Alliance Co-Executive Directors Kristin and Steven Schondorf recently addressed industry issues at a CTPID community lunch. CTPID Senior Research Scientist Daniel Whitney is Ford-MIT Alliance program area manager for Product Development Process Technology. More information: http://ford-mit.mit.edu/.
International Motor Vehicle Program: IMVP's fourth phase, Navigating Auto's Next Economy, launched in 2001. This new phase integrates IMVP's strong research capabilities on the extended enterprise with new factors such as globalization, rising customer demands, value chain realignments, and environmental and sustainability challenges. PI Matthias Holweg, one of five recipients of an Alfred P. Sloan Industry Centers Fellowship, is expanding his U.K. build-to-order research to the U.S. and Japan and co-authoring a book on lessons from IMVP's ongoing Global Assembly Plant Study. More information: http://imvp.mit.edu/.
Lean Aerospace Initiative: LAI, founded in 1993, has served as a neutral forum for aerospace businesses from prime contractors to suppliers; for researchers in the U.S., U.K., and Sweden; and for the Air Force, NASA, and other governmental organizations. LAI's first decade produced strategic frameworks and tools, a book, and an online course developed with the Defense Acquisition University. LAI's Enterprise Value Phase, begun in 2002, launched Lean Now!, a new government-led initiative that supports and accelerates the lean transformation of government and industry value streams and interface processes. More information: http://lean.mit.edu/.
Labor Aerospace Research Agenda: Research on the aerospace workforce has taken on increased urgency, says LARA Co-Director Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, given disruptions in the civil aviation sector since Sept. 11 and complex shifts in military aerospace. LARA research was a core component of the Presidential Commission's Final Report of the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry. With Co-Director Thomas Kochan, the LARA team is developing case studies and Web-based teaching tools. More information: http://web.mit.edu/ctpid/lara/.
Lean Sustainment Initiative: LSI, an Air Force-industry-academia partnership established in 1997, aims to streamline the Air Force's $5.3 billion maintenance, repair, and overhaul operations. In case studies and by identifying best practices, LSI has targeted areas where data coding and communication problems have prevented accurate forecasting of parts needs. LSI developed a joint approach to problems that face both the government and industry maintenance services suppliers. More information: http://www.leansustainment.org/.
Material Systems Laboratory: MSL, established 20 years ago, develops strategies and methods to determine how new materials and related technologies will work within a larger system or application. Projects in the aerospace and automotive industries examine material selection in light of policy, economic, and environmental consequences. MSL Director Richard Roth is leading research on the relative costs and efficiencies of producing lighter cars. More information: http://msl1.mit.edu/msl/index.shtml.
MIT Information Quality: MIT IQ Director Richard Wang is expanding the focus of the Total Data Quality Program he co-directs with Stuart Madnick. The new program based at CTPID will focus on developing an Information Quality Filtering System, managing information as a product, creating a certification curriculum comparable to CPA training, and applying information quality to areas such as lean enterprise and corporate householding. With support from the U.S. Navy and industry partners, CTPID is offering the first certificate courses May 19-23 and August 11-15. More information: http://web.mit.edu/tdqm/www/.
Program on Internet and Telecom Convergence: ITC is MIT's only research program focused on furthering the Internet's evolution into a critical, global communications infrastructure. Directed by LCS's Dr. David Clark, program research examines uncertainties in the Internet's evolution in three areas: user devices, network access, and global backbone transport. Recent research has focused on broadband deployment, collaborative computing, wireless futures, and the development of a Communications Value Chain Roadmap. ITC is a core contributor of Internet economic and policy analysis to the Center for eBusiness and the new Communications Futures program. More information: http://itc.mit.edu/.
Program on Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy: Co-Directors Professor Thomas Eagar and Dr. Joanne Kauffman are developing a research program to build critical knowledge to aid private and government decision makers, to understand regulatory impacts on industry, to propose alternative regulatory approaches, and to educate leaders to shape the future of environmental protection. More information: http://p-step.mit.edu/.
Technology and Law Program: T&L offers a cluster of graduate-level subjects associated with the Technology and Policy Program as well as research opportunities at the interface of law and technology. Professor Nicholas A. Ashford directs research that includes the design and evaluation of policies intended to encourage technological change that will help prevent chemical accidents and pollution; promote environmental justice by involving communities in governmental and corporate decisions; and investigate sustainability, trade, and the environment. More information: http://web.mit.edu/ctpid/www/tl.
Visit CTPID's Website for more information: http://web.mit.edu/ctpid/www/. To receive CTPID's newsletter, Impact, please e-mail ctpidcom@mit.edu.
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