SERC Curates Special AI & SE Issue of INCOSE INSIGHT

In 2020, SERC and the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) created a special issue of the INCOSE INSIGHT journal on systems engineering and AI. They have just followed up with another special issue, A Decade of AI and Systems Engineering: Looking Back and Forward, edited by SERC CTO Tom McDermott and SERC Chief Scientist Zoe Szajnfarber of The George Washington University.

“This year we decided another special issue was warranted – one that looked across the decade of the evolution of AI and systems engineering,” McDermott wrote in an introductory letter. “Never has a technology changed our discipline of systems engineering more quickly. But a whole decade? It’s only 2026. If we were to try to predict what AI will look like in 2030, we would be wrong. But after six years of workshops, conferences, and publications, we can spot the trends and make some definitive statements on where systems engineering and AI are going. Expect significant change.”

The special issue complements the annual AI4SE & SE4AI Research and Application Workshop SERC organizes every year with the U.S. Army DEVCOM Armaments Center Systems Engineering Directorate. The seventh workshop is scheduled for September 22-23 in Washington, DC.

The special issue offers 14 articles divided into three sections, plus a closing viewpoint. Many of the articles feature authors who have conducted SERC research. The full issue is available online for INCOSE members.

Decadal Section

• “A Decade of AI and Systems Engineering: Looking Back and Forward,” by Tom McDermott
• “Challenges and Opportunities for Systems Engineering in the Age of AI: SERC Perspective,” by Zoe Szajnfarber, Tom McDermott and SERC Deputy CTO Valerie Sitterle
• “A Review of the SERC AI4SE & SE4AI Workshop Series, and a Lookahead,” by Megan Clifford, Stevens Institute of Technology
• “From Rules to Agentic Swarms: A Systems Engineering Journey Through the Evolution of AI,” by Paul Wach and Alejandro Salado, University of Arizona; and Brad Philipbar, IFC/USAFA

AI4SE Section

• “Twenty Tips for Using Generative AI in Systems Engineering,” by Ray Madachy, Naval Postgraduate School; Dan O’Leary, Auburn University; Tom McDermott; Sinan Bank, Colorado State University
• “Automated Curation and Execution of Engineering Models,” by Jaya Kambhampaty, Olivia Fischer and Dimitri Mavris, Georgia Tech
• “Trustworthy LLM-Augmented Data Reconciliation for Deployment-Constrained Environments,” by Dan O’Leary and Allison Ledford, Auburn University
• “On (Human) Learning in Design Space Exploration and the Impact of AI Assistants,” by Daniel Selva, Texas A&M
• “STPD – Operational Design as a Model-Based Extension of STPA,” by Avi Harel, Ergolight

SE4AI Section

• “Trustworthy AI for Quantitative Systems Engineering via Deterministic Delegation to Verified Tools,” by Ray Madachy, Naval Postgraduate School
• “Engineering Trust in AI-Enabled Systems: Lessons from the Trusted AI Challenge,” by Sami Saliba, Emma Meno, Scott Lucero and Nathan Lau, Virginia Tech; Tyler Cody and Peter Beling, University of Virginia; Carlo Lipizzi, Stevens Institute of Technology; Hunter Moore and Jitesh Panchal, Purdue; and Sachin Shetty and Zoe Szajnfarber, The George Washington University
• “Designing Human-AI Architectural Robustness to Inherently Brittle AI,” by Aditya Singh and Zoe Szajnfarber, The George Washington University
• “A Systems Architecture for Data-Constrained Environments: Leveraging the Astronaut Digital Twin to Improve Spaceflight Adaptation in Humans,” by Caleb Schmidt and Steve Simske, Colorado State University
• “From Models to Systems: The Evolution of T&E for Artificial Intelligence from 2020 to 2030,” by Tyler Cody and Peter Beling, University of Virginia

Viewpoint

• “Who Gets to Decide? An Organizational Decision-Making Lens for AI Governance,” by Jimmie McEver, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

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