Publication

For Academic Year 2023-2024, the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) worked with U.S. military units and 17 university student teams to develop innovative prototypes under research task “WRT-1064 Systems Engineering Capstone Marketplace Option Year 1 (OY1)”. During Summer 2023, SERC’s Capstone Managers met with operational Department of Defense (DoD) units and other DoD organizations and collected ideas, problems, and technical needs that were not in other formal research efforts. Government customers included OSD’s Rapid Reaction Technology Office, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, the Naval Safety Center, and units from the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Groups. SERC attracted university faculty and student teams with research topics posted on SERC’s public website. SERC received and evaluated these proposals and offered subcontracts to accredited universities in the U.S. Some Capstone project teams included graduate students who added particular knowledge of project management and business operations. A key part of Capstone Marketplace work was done by Subject Matter Experts (SME) for each student team. Military units provided knowledgeable “end users” who could add essential context to the project teams’ concepts for how solutions would be used.

During the academic year, Capstone Managers and SMEs met approximately biweekly with students, and provided insights on "best practices” from aerospace and defense industries. Student teams were required to track their project costs, schedules, and technical performances. Each student team presented incremental design reviews to Capstone Managers and DoD customers on the development of their hardware and software prototypes. At the conclusion of the academic year, students made final presentations and demonstrations. Copies of each Capstone project, including team communications, design reviews, documentation, media, and other technical data are archived at Stevens Institute of Technology.