News

Led by Dr. Michael Orosz at USC/ISI, the SERC team is looking at how mission engineering approaches support the transition from “traditional” waterfall acquisition to a more agile approach that utilizes DevSecOps processes.

SERC Updates provides a bi-monthly highlight of research projects from across the SERC network of collaborators, recent news from the SERC community, links to popular events such as the SERC Talks, reading lists, job opportunities and much more.

The SERC is pleased to welcome three new members of the Research Council: Amanda Girth, Larry Head and Steven Schooner. These members are subject matter experts in their respective areas of research and their guidance will lead to further interdisciplinary advances…

Workforce trends will demand employees to have the competencies to collaborate effectively in the digital environment, and for employers to understand and respond to the factors that influence employee satisfaction.

SERC research at USC focused on building a digital testbed to support the adoption and implementation of MBSE as aligned with DoD strategy. The objective was to provide a holistic environment that supports the full lifecycle of an engineered system.

The Cyber Resilient Weapon Systems Body of Knowledge provides resources to protect system elements through cyber resilient engineering organized under topic areas that include technology, data and information, mission and system function.

Learn more about the Ecology-Inspired Techniques for Resilient Design of Systems of Systems (SoS) research project which set out to determine if a biological ecosystem-inspired approach to the evaluation of engineered systems could identify optimally resilient designs.

SERC UPDATES | FEBRUARY 2022 – A digest of the most recent news items and research updates related to the Systems Engineering Research Center.

The U.S. Army DEVCOM Armaments Center Systems Engineering Directorate and the Systems Engineering Research Center jointly sponsored the second Artificial Intelligence for Systems Engineering/Systems Engineering for Artificial Intelligence (AI4SE/SE4AI) workshop on October 20-21, 2021. The workshop report is now available, detailing the in-depth exchange among and contributions by representatives of Government, Academia and Industry participants.

Marilee Wheaton, SERC Doctoral Fellow, was sworn in as President of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) at the 2022 International Workshop in January after serving the last two-years as President-Elect of INCOSE.

Aligned with DoD’s Digital Engineering Strategy, US Navy’s Military Sealift Command is deploying digital engineering within their ship maintenance division. SERC PI Dr. Sam Kovacic, Old Dominion University, and team are developing a digital twin (DT) to support this transition. Linkages between the DT and the ship in its environment enable responsive maintenance under variable conditions.

SERC ART-005 research team released Technical Report SERC-2022-TR-001 titled “Methods for Integrating Dynamic Requirements” on February 4, 2022. Questions may be addressed to Principal Investigator Dr. William B. Rouse, Georgetown University.

Dr. Dan DeLaurentis, SERC Chief Scientist, Director of i-GSDI & Prof. of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, joins the Center for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue as a Senior Fellow, bringing his expertise to a strategic initiative where diplomacy, technology and U.S. foreign policy intersect.

Dr. Paul Grogan, Stevens Institute of Technology, is working with earth scientists & engineers to balance demands of secure information exchange with usability challenges.

Computation innovators, do you get a kick out of digital modernization, moving, integrating and analyzing big data? There is still time to enter the second heat of the Defense Data Grand Prix. Competition winners can earn $10K – 40K for their solutions to real world defense challenges.

SERC researcher and Virginia Tech Doctoral student Kaitlin Henderson is conducting a research study with co-PI Alejandro Salado on organizational adoption of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) as part of her dissertation work.

SERC UPDATES | DECEMBER 2021 – A digest of the most recent news items and research updates related to the Systems Engineering Research Center. Happy Holidays!

The 9th Annual SERC Doctoral Students Forum (SDSF) took place on November 4, beginning with two tutorials led by SERC Research Council members. SERC Doctoral Fellows and students presented their latest research from across the SERC network. Read more about the highlights from throughout day.

A new report titled “Infrastructure Architecture Framework: A multi-sector approach to enterprise systems engineering and management” was released jointly by the New York Academy of Sciences, United Engineering Foundation, and Mott MacDonald.

SERC Investigator Dr. Peter Beling (Virginia Tech) leads research exploring operational resilience – the ability of systems to resist, absorb, and recover from or adapt to an adverse occurrence. A primary outcome of this work is a framework for determining requirements for resilience and associated test metrics.

Professor Azad Madni was invited to participate an Insights Session, focused on better understanding the nature of systems engineering, what distinguishes it from other engineering disciplines, and the principles and heuristics that underlie it.

The National Defense Industrial Association conducted its annual Systems & Mission Engineering conference 6-8 December 2021. This virtual conference focused on systems and mission engineering transformation and modernization. The program included prominent keynotes from the Department of Defense and defense industrial base, panels, and a broad selection of speakers. Many SERC projects and researchers will be featured in the program.

November 3 saw the completion of the 2021 SERC Sponsor Research Review (SSRR). The program focused on the key research results of the SERC in the last year. Read more about the highlights from the day.

The SERC would like to congratulate SERC Deputy Director Mr. Tom McDermott, who was an editor and author of the newly released “Systems Engineering and Artificial Intelligence”. This textbook presents a set of collected papers from three symposia on artificial intelligence and systems engineering that were hosted jointly by the SERC, the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).

Organizations are searching for guidance on measuring the value and benefits of DE and MBSE. For digital transformation to be successful, the systems engineering community needs a set of common guidance on what data to collect and what top-level measures can be used consistently across a variety of programs. SERC Researchers Tom McDermott and Alejandro Salado and PhD candidate Kaitlin Henderson are leading research focused on addressing that need.

The CRWS-BoK Portal provides research tools for science and technology (S&T) professionals who specialize in cyber resilient weapon systems. Engineers from the Department of Defense (DoD), Federal Government, industry, and academia will be able access this information to assist them in weapons systems and program development.

SERC UPDATES | OCTOBER 2021 – A digest of the most recent news items and research updates related to the Systems Engineering Research Center.

Congratulations to SERC Researchers Mr. Tom McDermott and Ms. Molly Nadolski, Stevens Institute of Technology, who have just published an article in INCOSE’s INSIGHT Practitioners Magazine.

Join the SERC in congratulating Dr. Azad Madni’s recent election to the National Academy of Engineering

To explore some of the persistent issues impacting STEM education and career choices, the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) has launched new research that will help to shape the STEM pipeline in the United States. Led by SERC/AIRC (Acquisition Innovation Research Center) Fellows Dr. Ruth David and Mr. Jeff Wilcox, this research task will focus on developing collaborative DoD-industry activities that will: create a technical workforce able to receive the security clearance needed to meet defense missions; support educational opportunities for defense sector personnel in both government and industry; and increase educational opportunities for veterans and military dependents.

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment (OUSD(A&S)) has created a series of related tasks in response to Congressional requirements to study and develop policy options and recommendations on how the Department of Defense (DoD) can use agile program and project management concepts in non-software acquisition programs. As part of this effort, Drs. Gregg Vesonder and Nicole Hutchison are leading the development of a report that describes the history of agile processes as viewed by multiple disciplines and industries that documents the agile journey-related experiences of organizations.

The SERC is pleased to announce the addition of three new members to its Research Council.

For more than 10 years, the Annual SERC Sponsored Research Review (SSRR) has united all sectors of the systems engineering and acquisition research communities – government, industry, and academia – to share progress on research that addresses challenging issues facing the Department of Defense (DoD) and other federal departments and agencies. This year’s SSRR will be a three-day hybrid event, held November 2-4. For the first time ever, SERC will also offer attendees free tutorials in the morning of November 4 focused on digital engineering and security engineering.

SERC UPDATES | AUGUST 2021 – A digest of the most recent news items and research updates related to the Systems Engineering Research Center.

On May 28, 2021, the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) awarded the research task “WRT-1043: DAU – Digital Engineering Simulation” to the Systems Engineering Research Center. This is a brand new, year-long effort with potential for two additional years led by Principal Investigator Dr. Nicole Hutchison, Stevens Institute of Technology, alongside co-Principal Investigators Dr. Dinesh Verma, Stevens Institute of Technology, and Dr. Peter Beling, Virginia Tech.

Research task ‘ART-20: Quantum Technologies for Armament Systems’ kicked off on June 30, 2021, with Principal Investigator Dr. Yuping Huang, Stevens Institute of Technology (Stevens), leading his current team of 14 Co-Principal Investigators. This task is slated to be a two-year effort with room to double the team of researchers. The task contains seven main tasks in support of the research and development objectives in areas of quantum photonics and related technologies at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Armaments Center.

Providing access to the latest OUSD(R&E) Digital Engineering Working Group Newsletter – July 2021.

Each year, the International Council on Systems Engineering selects a Best Paper award from among the papers published the previous year in Systems Engineering. The Editorial Board considers the papers in this virtual issue to be among the best from those published in 2020. This issue includes insight into the latest research and developments in systems engineering.

The fifth year of SERC Talks begins on August 18, 2021, focused on the theme Test and Evaluation with “What Does Test & Evaluation Mean in a Digital Engineering Enabled World?” presented by Darryl Ahner, Director of Scientific Test and Analysis Techniques in Test & Evaluation Center of Excellence and Interim Dean for Research at U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology. The webinar marks the first of three that will focus on Test and Evaluation throughout the remainder of 2021.

Join the SERC in congratulating Dr. Azad Madni as the second recipient of the INCOSE Benefactor Award. The Benefactor Award recognizes an individual member, who by their actions and personal generosity has contributed uniquely to the enhanced reputation and recognition of systems engineering in society-at-large, and directly to the advancement and betterment of INCOSE.

The SERC received two awards at the 31st Annual INCOSE International Symposium, held online this year from July 17-22: the Best Theme Editors Award and the Best Article Award. The awards recognized the SERC’s curation of and contributions to the March 2020 issue of INSIGHT, the International Council of Systems Engineering’s (INCOSE) magazine, themed AI and Systems Engineering and featuring exclusively content from SERC-affiliated contributors.

SERC UPDATES | JUNE 2021 – A digest of the most recent news items and research updates related to the Systems Engineering Research Center.

On May 28, 2021, the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) awarded the research task “WRT-1043: DAU – Digital Engineering Simulation” to the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC). This is a brand new, year-long effort with potential for two additional years led by Principal Investigator Dr. Nicole Hutchison, Stevens Institute of Technology, alongside co-Principal Investigators Dr. Dinesh Verma, Stevens Institute of Technology, and Dr. Peter Beling, Virginia Tech.

On May 11-13th, 2021, the 18th Annual Acquisition Research Symposium was held, providing a virtual forum to present scholarly acquisition research, as well as for dialogue between scholars and acquisition policy-makers and practitioners. Research papers and presentations were given on recently completed and on-going Department of Defense and US Navy (DoD/DON)-sponsored projects at a variety of research institutions across the United States.

Christina L. Carmen, PhD, of The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), served as faculty advisor to a multidisciplinary team of Undergraduate (UG) engineering students that completed a project sponsored by the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). The project was part of the students’ Capstone experience and provided the Naval Special Warfare Group (NSWG) a solution to a mission-focused problem: how to maximize the use and organization of the interior space of its SEAL Delivery Vehicle Dry Combat Submersible (DCS). The students involved were: Nadia Alexander (Team Lead); Jay Hayman (Manufacturing Lead); Philip Tegan Ruffalo (CAD Lead); Nicholas Shelton (Team Liaison and Test/Product Analysis Lead); Kayli Wood (Cost Lead); and Christopher Smith (Research Lead).

On Wednesday, May 5, 2021, the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) conducted an online workshop focused on their Integrated Architecture Framework. Tom McDermott, Deputy Director of SERC, and William Rouse, Senior Fellow at the McCourt School of Public Policy, were part of an academic advisory team and provided technical support with use of the newer SystemiTool that facilitated the workshop’s collaborative structure.

The Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK) just reached 5 million pageviews since its first appearance in September 2012.

Wiley and INCOSE have collaborated to publish a special edition of the journal Systems Engineering, Best Papers of 2019

As we are all more than a year into this global pandemic, we are interested in learning your thoughts on the impact onto the field of Systems Engineering and you as a professional at this point in time. The overall survey results will provide critical insights into the impact of COVID-19 on the broader systems engineering community.

New center led by Stevens will support the transformation of the defense acquisition system to help the DoD respond to the rapid technological advancements critical to today’s warfighter

The report of the AI4SE & SE4AI Workshop, which was a two-day virtual event that took place at the end of October 2020, has been released. The workshop gathered SE thought leaders already in the AI space, to discuss the workshop main objective: how to define relevant SE and AI challenges, areas of exploration and methodologies to use, and ways in which to collaborate and research in the upcoming years.

The Lifecycle Modeling Language is proud to announce the first annual Model-Based Systems Engineering Conference. Join other professionals and government officials, interested in expanding systems engineering to a data-driven model-based solution as well as academics that would like to stay up to date in the current usage of MBSE and/or would like to use it in the classroom.

Call For Papers: Trustworthy AI for Digital Engineering Transformation – Special Issue for Journal of Integrated Design & Process ScienceSpecial Issue for Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science – Transactions of SDPS
Submission Deadline: 31 March 2021

New center led by Stevens will support the transformation of the defense acquisition system to help the DoD respond to the rapid technological advancements critical to today’s warfighter

Join the SERC in congratulating Dr. Azad Madni, the recipient of the 2020 Lt Gen Thomas R. Ferguson Excellence in Systems Engineering individual award.

The Digital Readiness Webcast Series is a collaboration between the Defense Acquisition University and the System Engineering Research Center. This 9-part webcast series will be centered around the following themes: Digital Engineering, Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

To access the latest OUSD(R&E) Digital Engineering Working Group Newsletter, download pdf below. ABOUT THE DEWG: To further the digital engineering effort, the DoD Engineering office leads the Digital Engineering Working Group (DEWG) whose participants represent segments of the engineering and acquisition communities including Program Executive Offices, Program Managers, engineering, and science and technology proponents. [...]

The SERC-2020-SR-001 report: “Benchmarking the Benefits and Current Maturity of Model-Based Systems Engineering across the Enterprise,” which indexes the findings drawn from the SERC | INCOSE | NDIA MBSE Maturity Survey, is now publicly available.

The Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) and INCOSE invite you to complete a survey about the impact of COVID-19 at various levels. In particular, we are interested in learning about your thoughts on the current impact on the field of systems engineering and you as a professional.

The editorial team behind the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK) recently released version 2.2, with some noteworthy changes and additions.   This release marks the 7th anniversary of SEBoK which has now encountered over 4 million page views and continues to engage the greater systems community.

The March 2020 issue of INSIGHT addresses augmented and artificial intelligence (AI) for systems engineering (AI4SE) and systems engineering for augmented and artificial intelligence (SE4AI). SE4AI addresses the transformation we need in methods, procedures, and tools (MPTs) to engineer systems with embedded AI to be fit for purpose and doing no (unintended) harm. AI4SE addresses challenges that have to be overcome to leverage AI in the practice of systems engineering much as a lever or pulley provides mechanical advantage to perform work in Newtonian mechanics.

SERC research team released Technical Report SERC-2019-TR-003 for Research Task 199 “Interactive Model-Centric Systems Engineering (IMCSE) Phase 6” on March 1, 2019. Questions may be addressed to Principal Investigator Dr. Donna Rhodes as well as other researchers.

NASA Mission Architects need a library of SysML elements for common physical and functional elements that can be used across NASA missions. Show us your architecture and systems engineering modeling skills, to help develop common models that can be used for more effective and efficient systems engineering… and also have a chance to win some nice prizes. Individuals and teams are welcome to participate.

The IEEE-INCOSE-NDIA Systems Security Symposium seeks research papers and application studies which focus on the development of secure, safe, and resilient systems. This symposium attempts to address the convergence of cybersecurity, safety, and engineering with interest in the effective application of security principles, methods, and tools to complex systems such as cyber-physical systems, autonomous systems, transportation vehicles, medical devices, large IoT systems, and other systems of interest.

These topics are available for awards to any U.S. university, with no restrictions on student participation.  The award process is unchanged from last year–please indicate your intentions by submission of an “Expression Of Interest” (EOI) form, available on the website.    We will respond to all valid EOI with a Request For Proposal, until the Research […]

The IEEE-INCOSE-NDIA Systems Security Symposium seeks research papers and application studies which focus on the development of secure, safe, and resilient systems. This symposium attempts to address the convergence of cybersecurity, safety, and engineering with interest in the effective application of security principles, methods, and tools to complex systems such as cyber-physical systems, autonomous systems, transportation vehicles, medical devices, large IoT systems, and other systems of interest.

The video for the June 5, 2019, SERC Talk presented by Dr. Steve Mayner, SAFe Fellow and Principal Consultant is now available on the SERC YouTube Channel, along with past Talks. Dr. Mayner’s Talk explored “Can DevOps Practices Be Applied to Cyber-Physical Systems Development?” as the final Talk of our three part series on “Applying DevOps to Complex Muti-Organization Systems.”

The video for the April 10, 2019, SERC Talk presented by Dr. Supannika K. Mobasser, Associate Director, Software Systems Acquisition Department, The Aerospace Corporation is now available on the SERC Youtube Channel

This is a call open to all faculty and research staff at SERC Universities for research proposals. These research proposals will be assessed for funding from the SERC Core funds and other sponsor funding sources as incubator research projects. The need for new project incubation is an integral part of the SERC 2019-2023 Technical Plan.

SERC research team released Technical Report SERC-2019-TR-001 for Research Task 198 “Helix – Organizational Effectiveness in Systems Engineering” on February 28, 2019. Questions may be addressed to Principal Investigator Dr. Nicole A.C. Hutchison and Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Dinesh Verma as well as other researchers.

The video for the February 20, 2019 SERC Talk presented by David P. Seaver, Senior Technical Advisor Business Intelligence Organization, National Security Agency is now available on the SERC Youtube Channel…

Stevens Institute of Technology and Virginia Tech present the 17th Annual Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER) on April 3-4, 2019 at National Press Club, Washington, DC . CSER has become the primary conference for disseminating systems engineering research and germinating new research ideas.

Stevens Institute of Technology and Virginia Tech present the 17th Annual Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER) on April 3-4, 2019 at National Press Club, Washington, DC . CSER has become the primary conference for disseminating systems engineering research and germinating new research ideas. Its primary objective is to provide a common platform for academia, [...]

Abstract submissions are now open for the National Defense Industrial Association's 22nd Annual Systems and Mission Engineering Conference to be held October 21-24, 2019 in Tampa, FL. This conference provides an interactive forum for Program Managers, Systems Engineers, Chief Scientists, and Engineers and Managers from the Requirements, Design, Verification, Support, Logistics, and Test communities from both Government [...]

The video for the December 11, 2018 SERC Talk presented by Prof. Xavier Franch, Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Barcelona Tech) is now available on the SERC YouTube Channel, along with past Talks! Prof. Franch’s Talk explored “Why Are Ontologies and Languages for Software Quality Increasingly Important?” as the the final Talk of the year, as well as of our 3-part [...]

Abstract & Workshop submissions are now open for the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)’s 126th Annual Conference & Exposition. This year’s ASEE event is taking place at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida on June 15 – 19, 2019.

Paul Scharre has been invited to speak at the 2018 SERC Sponsor Research Review on November 8 in Washington, DC. REGISTER NOW Paul is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. He is author of Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of […]

The SERC management team would like to announce that the September SERC WebEx meeting for 2018 which was scheduled for Wednesday, September 5, 2018 has been re-scheduled for Wednesday, September 12, 2018, at 1:00 pm EST. Open to SERC Collaborators only, the objective of this meeting is to spread awareness among our network on all […]

This day long, sponsor-focused event unites the government, industry, and academic systems engineering research community in order to share research progress and discuss the most challenging systems engineering issues today. The review highlights over twenty ongoing SERC research projects. Researchers from the SERC universities will discuss their research, highlight results, and describe opportunities for government […]

The video for the August 8, 2018 SERC Talk presented by Dr. Barry Boehm, is now available on the SERC Youtube Channel…

SERC Executive Director Dinesh Verma, will speak on August 7th at the Northwest Arkansas Tech Council Meeting.  Dr. Verma will be speaking about creating a strategy and enterprise architecture as the council continues to investigate becoming a “Smart Community.”

The Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) is inviting all faculty at SERC Collaborating Institutions to nominate their doctoral students for the 2018 SERC Doctoral Students Forum (SDSF).

This DoD Digital Engineering Strategy outlines the Department’s five strategic goals for the digital engineering initiative. The goals promote the use of digital representations of systems and components and the use of digital artifacts as a technical means of communication across a diverse set of stakeholders.

The video for the June 6, 2018 SERC Talk presented by Phyllis Marbach, the INCOSE L.A. Chapter President, is now available on the SERC YouTube Channel. Serving as the third and final Talk in our three-part series on “Successfully Applying Agile Methods for High-Criticality Systems,” Marbach’s Talk explored “How Do You Use Agile Methods on Highly-Critical Systems that Require [...]

On February 21, 2018, the SERC participated in National Engineers Week at the Pentagon Conference Center, supporting the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Engineering (ODASD(SE)) by utilizing the Mobile Immersion Lab to showcase digital posters created by…

The video for the February 7, 2018 SERC Talk presented by Dr. Jan Bosch from Chalmers University of Technology is now available on the SERC Youtube Channel, along with past Talks!

SERC research team released Technical Report SERC-2017-TR-114 for Security Engineering also referred to as “Systems Aware Cybersecurity” on December 7, 2017. Questions may be addressed to Principal Investigator Dr. Barry Horowitz or Co-Principal Investigator Dr. Peter A. Beling and Cody Fleming as well as other researchers.

All research within the SERC is conducted with an objective of  having a significant positive impact on the national security of the United States.  Thus, it is critical that SERC research is transitioned into practice.  The impact of the SERC continues to grow through our collaboration with a number of FFRDCs, National Laboratories, and DoD Industry.

INCOSE and publisher John Wiley & Sons are offering the online issue free of charge to all until March 31, 2018: INCOSE INSIGHT 20(3), September 2017. This issue will continue to be available to INCOSE members beyond this date.

The System of Systems Engineering Collaborators Information Exchange (SoSECIE) schedule for 2018 is now available. SoSECIE is a web-based seminar series organized by the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (SE) and the National Defense Industrial Association’s SoS Engineering Committee. The goal of this series is to provide guidance, education and training for System-of-Systems and dissemination of engineering best practices.

Following the nomination of Dr. Mike Griffin by President Trump to be the Under-Secretary of the Department of Defense (Research and Engineering), who is the current chair of the SERC Advisory Board, Dr. Paul Kaminski has accepted an invitation to be the third chair of the SERC Advisory Board, effective November 10, 2017.

Thank you to all those who joined us in Washington D.C. for the 5th Annual SERC Doctoral Students Forum (SDSF) and 9th Annual SERC Sponsor Research Review (SSRR) and a special thanks to all our speakers, presenters and supporting staff.
The 2017 SERC Annual Events were a grand success, featuring a comprehensive exchange of ideas among academic leaders, government agencies and industry leaders on the most pressing systems challenges facing the defense and intelligence communities.

The System of Systems Engineering Collaborators Information Exchange (SoSECIE) schedule for 2018 is now available. SoSECIE is a web-based seminar series organized by the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (SE) and the National Defense Industrial Association's SoS Engineering Committee. The goal of this series is to provide guidance, education and training for [...]