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CESF
researchers seek to identify and extract fundamental concepts,
methodologies and formalisms that will eventually define the
new field called Engineering Systems. The process requires
research on real problems, working
at the intersection of engineering, management and social
science. And, in the end, we are engineers, wanting to design
and build systems, but with an awareness of the complexities
and multi-faceted nature of such systems.
CESF currently
engages in five research areas.
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Preparedness
and Response to Pandemic Influenza. This
effort involving about eight MIT faculty, students and
staff focusing on understanding the dynamics of influenza
progression under alternative controls in the form of
‘social distancing’ and hygienic steps.
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2. |
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Preparedness
and Response to Hurricanes. This research
examines the sequence of decisions available to governmental
decision makers in the days and hours before a hurricane
hits the mainland. The process is replete with uncertainty,
yet decisions must be made in a timely manner, including
mobilization, repositioning of supplies and equipment,
and evacuation.
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3. |
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U.S.
Presidential Elections: Fairness of the Voting Precinct
Queueing Process. This work seeks to understand
the relationship between queueing delays for voters and
the resources (people and technology) deployed to voting
precincts. The goal is to devise a scientifically based
method for deployment of these resources to provide equitable
access to all voters in a region (county or state).
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4. |
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Congestion
Pricing for Critical Infrastructure Systems.
This research examines alternative ways of pricing electricity,
automobile access to urban centers, and similar infrastructural
services to match supply/demand patterns, in an effort
to shave peaks of demand and fill in the valleys of demand.
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5. |
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Distance
Learning Systems and Processes for Developing Countries.
The research is closely affiliated with LINC (Learning
International Networks Consortium), the CESF volunteer
effort aimed at assisting developing countries utilize
e-learning in creative ways to bring quality higher education
to underserved communities.
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Each of
these efforts operates at the Venn diagram intersection of
Engineering, Management and Social Science. Each has the potential
but not promise of revealing Fundamentals of Engineering Systems,
such fundamentals to be derived from contextually oriented
findings in our research.
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