The Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center (a.k.a. CADRC) was established in 1986 and began working with both industry and government on computer-based decision-support systems. Its mission was to encourage and enable an interdisciplinary body of students, faculty and staff to participate in the development of advanced software development tools, prototype systems and end-user decision-support tools in real-world problems.

In 2012, after 40 years at Cal Poly and 25 leading the Collaborative Agent Design Research Center (CADRC), Jens Pohl retired as CAED faculty member. The center came under the administrative auspices of the Office of Research and Graduate Programs, and Joanna Snyder assumed the role of director of operations and Hisham Assal as the director of research.

Modified from: https://web.archive.org/web/20130501140106/http://www.cadrc.calpoly.edu/about/; https://web.archive.org/web/20130526080349/http://www.cadrc.calpoly.edu/pdf/cadrc_brochure.pdf; https://www.facebook.com/pg/CADResearchCenter/about/?ref=page_internal; and http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1322&context=pao_rpt