Overview

8^th Annual Andrew P. Sage Memorial Design Competition (SMDC-25)

April 24, 2025 (Online + In-person)

The Andrew P. Sage Memorial Capstone Design Competition is a student-focused international forum for the design of complex systems. The competition is a leading showcase for undergraduate and graduate (masters) design projects, such as those from capstone design courses or from baccalaureate, honors, or design-oriented graduate theses. Designs should demonstrate systems engineering skills and knowledge to perform all the activities associated with a systems developmental life cycle.

Competing participants in the past have included students from a diverse set of universities including University of Pennsylvania, UVA, Virginia Tech, The US Military Academy at West Point, Purdue University, James Madison University, James Madison University, University of Texas at El Paso, University of Binghamton, University of Chinese Academy of Science, National Taiwan University, etc.  

The SMDC-25 conference is organized by George Mason University, Volgenau School of Engineering, Department of SEOR. For more information about GMU SEOR Department, please visit https://seor.gmu.edu/academics/graduate/masters.

Venue and Tracks

The conference will be held online and in-person on the Fairfax campus of George Mason University. As in the prior conferences, we will have tracks similar to the following and more:

• System Engineering & Design
• Cybersecurity Enigeering
• Model-based System Engineering
• Process Engineering & Improvement
• Climate, Sustainability & Resilience
• Industry Applications (Energy, Healthcare, Transporations, Military, Government, Communications, etc.)
• Applications of Advanced Methodology (AI/ML, Simulations, Optimization, etc.)

Best Paper Awards 

One paper per track will be awarded the Best Paper based on the quality of the written papers and the presentations. Awards were determined by a panel of experienced system engineers and engineering managers from industry and government. 

Key Dates

• Abstract Due Date: Feb 21, 2025 (Friday)
• Registration & Fee Payment Deadline: March 28, 2025 (Friday)
• Paper Due Date: April 18, 2025 (Friday)
• Conference Date: April 24, 2025 (Thursday)

Abstract Submission

• Abstract Due Date: Feb 21, 2025 (Friday)
• Please submit your abstract following the link provided under the conference banner 

Abstract should be 300-1000 words outlining the following contents that are relevant for your project:

• Context / Situation: the situation where the problem arises
• Stakeholders: who are the users / beneficiaries / decision makers / influencers of your final solutions / systems
• Problem statement: what is the problem that you are solving / systems that you are designing and building
• Concepts of Operations: how will your solutions / systems work
• Requirements: what's required for your solutions / systems to work
• Methodology / Design: how will your solutions be created / systems be designed
• Implementation: how will you implement your solutions / systems
• Verification & Validation: how will you verify and validate your solutions / systems 

Registration & Fee Payment

Corporate Sponsors

Corporate sponsorship is invited. Please contact Sponsorship Chair Dr. John Shortle (jshortle@gmu.edu) for sponsorship discussion.

Contact

All questions about conference participation and paper submission should be emailed to Dr. Songjun Luo (sluo4@gmu.edu).