WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Air Force Office of Scientific Research awarded a grant to Dr. Raphael (Rafi) Haftka (left), Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Dr. Stan Uryasev (right), Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering, to study engineering design.  The proposal, entitled “Design and Redesign of Engineering Systems: Uncertainty and Tradeoffs between Performance and Development Costs,” will combine Haftka’s expertise in design optimization and Uryasev’s expertise in stochastic optimization as applied to the design of aircraft.  Uryasev heads the Risk Management and Financial Engineering Lab while Haftka is a member of the Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization Group.  The grant provides funding of roughly $900,000 over the next four years.