EDAM places a high priority on funding research projects that enhance the delivery of the courses in the two degree programs and enable new collaborations between Portuguese and MIT researchers and industrial affiliates. 

The projects are divided into the two main themes of the focus area: Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing.

Educationally Coupled Research (ECR)

Research projects in the Engineering Design theme focus on developing innovative paradigms and methodologies for product development and design.  Collaboration with industrial partners is a key contributing factor to the development of these projects.  Topics under this theme include lean design in product development, lengthscale dependency in aeronautical component design and evaluation, and eco-efficient design.

The Advanced Manufacturing research projects fall into two major categories: manufacturing processes and manufacturing systems.  Projects in the first category involve technology development and economic and environmental performance evaluation of cutting-edge manufacturing processes, whereas projects in the second category evaluate design and planning strategies for manufacturing systems.  Manufacturing process research topics contain evaluations of advanced reaction injection molding technology and micromolding processes, and manufacturing systems research topics encompass lean manufacturing, supply chain management, and production line analysis.