ESD initiates research focused on science and technology issues of national and international importance. These studies, which range from next generation manufacturing to global telecommunications delivery, build on $20 million a year in research activity at ESD centers and programs.

As a vital part of engineering systems education, ESD faculty and students work with hundreds of enterprises and have forged novel industry-government-academic relationships. Examples of current research initiatives:

MIT Portugal Program
The MIT Portugal Program is a strategic investment in people, knowledge, and ideas designed to encourage enhanced collaborative programs in research and education among Portuguese universities and institutions, to perform basic research and education, and to strengthen the country's knowledge base.

MIT’s role in the MIT Portugal Program will be to pursue its basic research and teaching in the “Focus Areas” of the Program and to collaborate on activities implemented in Portugal. The Focus Areas include engineering design and advanced manufacturing; transportation systems; energy systems; bio-engineering systems; and engineering systems.

Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals
ESD’s Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals was founded in September 2005 to conduct research on the fundamentals and cross-cutting issues in Engineering Systems.

CESF is engaged in several areas, among them developing seminars and other mechanisms to discuss Engineering Systems fundamentals; collaborating with faculty to bring in resources for CESF and shape its relationships with ESD’s other research centers, the Center for Technology, Policy, and Industrial Development and the Center for Transportation and Logistics; sponsoring an Engineering Systems book series and a biannual international symposium on Engineering Systems fundamentals; and overseering the Learning International Networks Consortium (LINC).

CESF 1st Annual Report

CESF 2nd Annual Report

MIT Center for Technology, Policy, and Industrial Development
The Center for Technology, Policy, and Industrial Development (CTPID), a multi-industry research enterprise, applies intellectual tools from engineering, management, and the social sciences to critical industry issues. CTPID's ten research programs investigate sustainable global solutions to challenges in aerospace, automotive production and transportation, Internet technology and policy, materials systems, and technology and law. Over 80 corporations and government agencies support CTPID research. CTPID recently sponsored a conference entitled The Third Wave: Industry Opportunities for the Internet-Enabled Future, which explored the technological, business, and policy forces shaping the future of the Internet and creating new industry challenges.

Motorola, Eastman Kodak Company, and Compaq Computer Corporation are among the 24 industry partner companies that support Leaders for Manufacturing Program research on topics such as the organizational dynamics of change, large system development, and multi-step manufacturing flows.

MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics
The MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics is the world's leading center for research in supply chain management and logistics. The Center’s world-renowned research programs span every aspect of supply chain management and directly involve over 75 faculty and research staff from a wide range of academic disciplines, as well as researchers in various affiliate organizations around the world. For example, the MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program, established by CTL in 2003 with the University of Zaragoza, the government of Aragón, industry partners, and the PLAZA logistics park in Zaragoza, Spain, is a unique research and education partnership that brings together the supply chain interests of academia, industry and government -- all linked to the development of the largest and most up-to-date logistics park in Europe. This partnership allows researchers from MIT and the Zaragoza Logistics Center (ZLC) to experiment with new logistics processes, concepts and technologies and to move research findings quickly into practice. To develop business leaders, MIT-Zaragoza offers graduate and executive education, in English, to students from around the world.

The Council of Engineering Systems Universities
The Council of Engineering Systems Universities (CESUN) was established in 2004 by universities offering educational and research programs in engineering systems. CESUN membership includes over 30 universities in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The Council provides a mechanism for the member universities to work together developing engineering systems as a new field of study. An overall objective of the Council is to broaden engineering education and practice.