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Title of Document: MULTI-DISCIPLINARY SYSTEM DESIGN OPTIMIZATION Kevin Luft Master of Engineering Management Old Dominion University, Virginia Master of Science, Systems Engineering, 2006 University of Maryland, College Park Directed By: Dr. Mark Austin Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Institute for Systems Research University of Maryland, College Park Multidisciplinary System Design Optimization is a new name for a time tested process that grows increasingly complicated as the size and complexity of modern systems evolve. Derived from the Multidisciplinary Design Optimization techniques of the aerospace industry and benefiting from decades of experience and evolution, its purpose is to achieve an “optimal” design in a more general sense by considering additional aspects of the system development lifecycle. As the concept of an optimal design continues to evolve—and as systems grow larger, more complicated and interrelated—the processes for finding optimal designs will evolve. This adaptation increasingly requires the input of diverse teams of experts in far flung locations and utilizes the latest technologies. Using these techniques to make appropriate tradeoffs and find an optimal design—in both objective and subjective contexts—is an essential but difficult task.