Overview

The 10th Annual Andrew P. Sage Memorial Design Competition (SMDC-27)

April 19, 2027 (Online + In-person)

The Andrew P. Sage Memorial Design Competition (SMDC) is an international, student-focused forum dedicated to showcasing innovative approaches to the design, development, and improvement of complex systems. The competition provides a platform for undergraduate and master's students to present their outstanding design projects, exchange ideas, and demonstrate their technical expertise, creativity, and problem-solving capabilities.

The competition welcomes projects from capstone design courses, undergraduate honors programs, and design-oriented bachelor's and master's theses. Participating projects are expected to demonstrate the effective application of systems engineering principles, methodologies, and tools to address real-world challenges, with particular emphasis on the systems development life cycle—from problem definition and requirements analysis to system design, evaluation, and implementation.

Over the years, the competition has attracted talented students from a diverse range of universities in the United States and internationally. Previous participating institutions include the University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, United States Military Academy at West Point, Purdue University, James Madison University, University of Texas at El Paso, Binghamton University, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and National Taiwan University, among others.

Through presentations, technical discussions, and interactions with faculty, industry professionals, and fellow students, the competition fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, encourages innovative thinking, and recognizes excellence in systems engineering and design.

The 2027 Andrew P. Sage Memorial Design Competition (SMDC-27) is organized by the Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research (SEOR) in the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University.

For more information about the SEOR Department, please visit https://seor.gmu.edu.

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 organize student teams to tracks similar to the following and more:

• System Engineering & Design
• 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 and Best Poster 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.

Students are welcome to bring their posters as an option. Awards will be given to teams with best posters.

Key Dates

• Abstract Due Date: Feb 19, 2027 (Friday)
• Registration & Fee Payment Deadline: March 26, 2027 (Friday)
• Paper Due Date: April 12, 2027 (Monday)
• Conference Date: April 19, 2027 (Monday)

Abstract Submission

• Abstract Due Date: Feb 19, 2027 (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).