SiDi Lab recently received the EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct fundamental research into sequential decision making in engineering systems design. The primary objective of this high-risk high-reward project is to create and demonstrate a research approach centered on the acquisition and analysis of fine-grained design activity data for design research. The approach is based on an open-source research experiment platform extended from an existing computer-aided design (CAD) software, Energy3D, for renewable energy systems design. The subawardee, Dr. Charles Xie, from Concord Consortium will collaborate with Dr. Sha to 1) extend Energy3D to incorporate functionality required for a research platform, 2) demonstrate use of the new research platform to support the acquisition of fine-grained data from real-world design exercises, and 3) disseminate the platform within the engineering design research community through publications and tutorials. The research study will highlight how fine-grained data enables new research directions on sequential decision-making and system thinking, two fundamental elements of engineering design thinking. See the NSF website for more details about this project.