Design of complex engineered systems is a research area that focuses on systematic and rigorous approaches to designing and analyzing large-scale engineering systems. The complexity is because these systems are not only large scale and include multiple disciplines but are also composed of hardware, software, and sometimes humans, which typically results in unmodeled and poorly understood interactions and behavior on multiple scales. Such behavior often leads to unintended consequences that plague the engineering organizations developing such systems, including cost overruns, schedule delays, unplanned maintenance, and ultimately catastrophic failures during operation. Current systems engineering processes do not guarantee safe, effective, and robust systems that are delivered on time and within budget. Over the last 5 years, the engineering design research community has recognized this problem and advances have been made in many research groups with real large-scale applications. Furthermore, government organizations including NSF, NASA, and DARPA have created new programs that specifically fund the scientific approaches needed to make a significant impact on the state of the art. As a result, this Special Issue is quite timely because many of the approaches are ready to be disseminated and shared with our peers. The Guest Editors intend to showcase the variety of the research in this field.

Contributions should not be more than 8 pages long in the AI EDAM format. A paper with only text and a length of 6500 words may fit that maximum; the word count should be adjusted to include elements like tables and figures.

All submissions will be anonymously reviewed by at least three expert reviewers, and the selection for publication will be made on the basis of these reviews. Authors are invited to submit the names of suitable reviewers, such that discussions aimed at developing the paper may be integrated in the review phase.

Information about the format and style required for AI EDAM papers can be found at http://aiedam.usc.edu/

Note that inquiries and submissions for the Special Issue should be sent to the Guest Editors, not to the Editor in Chief.

Important Dates

• Intent to submit (Title & Abstract): Immediately

• Submission deadline for full papers: September 16, 2013

• Reviews due: November 15, 2013

• Notification and reviews due to authors: December 15, 2013

• Revised papers due from authors: March 16, 2014

• Final revised version submission deadline: June 1, 2014

Guest Editors

• Irem Y. Tumer

• School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering

• Oregon State University

• Corvallis, OR 97331

• E-mail: irem.tumer@oregonstate.edu

• Kemper E. Lewis

• Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

• University at Buffalo, SUNY

• Buffalo, NY 14260

• E-mail: kelewis@buffalo.edu