THE OBJECTIVE OF MECHANICAL DESIGN OPTIMIZATION IS TO SELECT, OUT OF A UNIVERSE OF POSSIBLE DESIGNS, THE ONE THAT BEST MEETS STRUCTURAL AND OTHER CRITERIA FOR THE FINAL PRODUCT. THIS PAPER DESCRIBES AN IMPLEMENTATION OF A SYSTEMATIC METHOD FOR DESIGN OPTIMIZATION, WHERE, UPON SPECIFICATION OF THE OPTIMIZATION GOAL, LIMITS OR CONDITIONS THAT MUST BE MET, AND DESIGN PARAMETERS THAT MAY BE VARIED, THE OPTIMAL DESIGN IS AUTOMATICALLY DETERMINED THROUGH ITERATIVE NUMERICAL SOLUTION OF THE RELEVANT PROBLEMS IN STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS. RESULTS OF TWO OPTIMIZATIONS OF A SPECIFIC DESIGN ARE SHOWN.