AC 2007-755: THE NEEDS PROBLEM MATRIX: PROVIDING SOME ORDER TO THE CHAOTIC IDEATION FUZZY FRONT END Madara Ogot, Pennsylvania State University Madara Ogot is an Associate Professor in Engineering Design and in Mechanical Engineering at Penn State. He is the co-author, along with Gul Okudan, of an introductory design text, Engineering Design: A Practical Guide. His current research interests include design under uncertainty, stochastic optimization and innovative design. Gül Okudan, Pennsylvania State University Gul E. Okudan is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Design at Penn State. She received her Ph.D. from University of Missouri-Rolla. Her research interests include intelligent shop floor control, manufacturing strategy modeling and measurement, solid modeling and measurement, product design and product design teams. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2007