Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Carnegie Mellon University received $151,012 in Early-Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) funding from the National Science Foundation's Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CFDA 47.041 – Engineering program) on May 1, 2026, for a two-year project concluding April 30, 2028. The project delivers an optimization-based framework and accompanying software tools that enable organizations to maintain portfolios of partially-developed product designs and partially-qualified suppliers to enhance supply chain resilience. The research produces validated mathematical formulations that balance profitability with design flexibility and supplier readiness, allowing companies to pivot rapidly when disruptions occur, with applicability across automotive, aerospace, and electronics sectors.

The project generates reusable software tools and evidence-based guidance that help engineers and decision-makers transparently evaluate resilience trade-offs under plausible disruption scenarios. Deliverables include scalable solution strategies, validated optimization formulations, and quantified metrics such as profit impacts, adaptation costs, and time-to-recovery assessments tested against realistic design-and-supply-chain benchmarks. This research directly strengthens domestic manufacturing resilience and supports U.S. competitiveness by providing practical alternatives to slow and expensive traditional approaches for managing supply chain shocks.