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SERC TALKS: “What Does Digital Transformation Look Like from the C-Suite?”

Speaker: Dr. William (Willy) Donaldson, Assistant Professor and Director, Biotechnology and Management Program, and Director of the Luter Business Institute at Christopher Newport University | CONTACT

Abstract
Digital transformation is hard enough without systematic resistance from the very enterprise you are trying to transform, but transformation means change and change is hard. This talk addresses some of the fundamental processes and perspectives embraced in the C-Suite (CEO, COO, CinC, Exec. Director, etc. level) and how these fundamental processes, while systematic, may not be systemic. Digital transformation requires addressing and changing some of these strongly held perspectives and addressing an enterprise culture developed over time that seeks to sustain these non-systemic dynamics.
Bio
Dr. William (Willy) Donaldson is Assistant Professor in Management at Christopher Newport University. Dr. Donaldson is the Director of the CNU Luter Business Institute and Director of the Biotechnology and Management Program. Willy has over 35 years of experience as a board member and President, has been CEO of 8 companies, and helped start dozens of companies. He has over 30 years of experience in higher education. Willy is the Founder and President of Strategic Venture Planning, a management consulting firm that assists boards, investors, families, and senior management teams to maximize results.

Dr. Donaldson’s areas of research interest include Enterprise Management Systems; Corporate Universities and their impact on performance; Family business issues, dynamics, and transitions; Entrepreneurship and Innovation; Systems Thinking; and Corporate Governance and Board Performance.

Dr. Donaldson authored Simple_Complexity: A Management Book for the Rest of Us: A Guide to Systems Thinking.
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This Talk is free to the public and all are welcomed to join and participate in this open discussion. Slides will be up at least two hours prior to the Talk if not sooner. If you have any questions regarding joining this session, please contact the SERC Talks webinar coordinator, Ms. Mimi Marcus.

More information on future SERC Talks can be found here. Thank you!

SERC TALKS: “The Practice of Mission Integration: How to focus and synchronize Department of Defense activities towards critical warfighter missions?”

Speaker: Mr. Elmer Roman, Director, Mission Integration, OUSD, (R&E) AC / Engineering  | CONTACT

Abstract
This presentation discusses how R&E is addressing the NDAA FY2017 Sec 855 Mission Integration Management (MIM). This will include an overview of Mission Engineering (ME), the technical component of MIM, and current engineering efforts in support of the Joint Staff and modernization priorities. This Talk follows August SERC TALKS: “’Mission Engineering’: Systems of Systems Engineering in Context” with Judith Dahmann, MITRE and our SERC Sponsor Research Review Mission Engineering Panel.
Bio
Mr. Roman joined the Senior Executive Service in August 2020 to serve as the Director for Mission Integration at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. He returns to the Pentagon after having served as Secretary of State and Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico since December 2019. Mr. Roman served as the Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety where he was in charge of the Puerto Rico Police Bureau, the Fire Department Corps Bureau, the Forensic Sciences Bureau, the Medical Emergencies Bureau, the Emergency Management and Disaster Administration Bureau, the 9-1-1 Services Bureau, and the Special Investigations Bureau. He was also the Homeland Security Advisor to the Governor of Puerto Rico.

Mr. Roman obtained his degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Campus, a master’s degree in Systems Engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Administration from Colorado Technical University. He graduated from the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) Recruit Depot in Parris Island, the USMC Officer Candidates School, the US Navy Senior Engineering Duty Officer School the Federal Executive Institute the Defense Acquisition University, and has completed courses in executive development at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. After serving in the Marines, he made his transition to the Naval Reserve Engineering Duty program, leading heavy lift salvage support missions worldwide. These include the heavy lift operations of the destroyers USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) and USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) after the fateful collisions in 2017. Mr. Roman participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2009.

Prior to his confirmation, Mr. Roman was the Director of the Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) program and team leader for Mission Integration in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Mr. Roman was responsible for providing executive leadership and management of demonstration programs for new advanced defense technologies. He directed the planning and transition of new combat capabilities to the Joint Forces and National Security Agencies within a portfolio worth over $700 million. Mr. Roman is also a CAPTAIN in the U.S. Navy Reserve where he serves as the Commanding Officer of the Office of Naval Research S&T 113 Unit and prior to that he served as the Supervisor of Salvage and Diving Unit and Pillar Lead of the Salvage, Diving, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Forces of the Naval Sea Systems Command. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1991 to 1997.

Previously, Mr. Roman served from 2010 to 2015 as Oversight Executive of International Cooperation and Asymmetric Warfare programs in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. He was responsible for the implementation of Department of Defense’s efforts in the fight against transnational organized crime; security cooperation, humanitarian assistance/disaster management, and capacity building for allied countries.

Mr. Roman served in a diplomatic assignment from 2005 to 2010 as Regional Director of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Global at the United States Embassy in Santiago, Chile. While in Chile, he was appointed as Secretary-General of the Specialized Inter- American Naval Conference of Science and Technology and was a member of the Country Team of the United States Embassy in Santiago.

His awards include two US Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Medals, two US Navy Meritorious (Military) Service Medals, and the Chilean Armed Forces Military Star for his work during the response of the category 8.8 earthquake in 2010. He is also the recipient of the United States Navy League RADM William S. Parsons Award for scientific and technical achievement, the General Carl A. Spaatz Award, the 2009 STEM Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award Conference Luminary Award, a Department of State Meritorious Honor Award and a NASA Technical Achievement Commendation, amongst other military and civil awards.
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Talk Resources

Referenced documentation:

Prior Talks in the Mission Engineering series:

August SERC TALKS: “’Mission Engineering’: Systems of Systems Engineering in Context” with Judith Dahmann, MITRE
SERC Sponsor Research Review 2020 PANEL: Mission Engineering Research Challenges

If you have any questions regarding the logistics for the Talk series, please contact our Talks webinar coordinator, Ms. Mimi Marcus. If you would like to present in a future SERC Talk, please contact our SERC Talks Editor-in-Chief and SERC Research Council Chair, Dr. Barry Boehm. More information on future SERC Talks can be found here. Thank you!

SERC TALKS: “’Mission Engineering’: Systems of Systems Engineering in Context”

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Speaker: Dr. Judith Dahmann, Technical Fellow, The MITRE Corporation  | CONTACT

Abstract
Today most organizational or societal capabilities rely on a mix of material and non-material ‘systems’ working together to achieve desired outcomes – to achieve their ‘mission’. Organizations typically define mission statements about why they exist – their “reason for being” -- and they use these mission statements as the basis for planning actions and investments. Government or religious organizations often form ‘mission’ teams to achieve a set of goals to share ideas or conduct negotiations. Space and defense organizations commonly refer to planned actions to achieve objectives as their ‘missions’ - e.g. US NASA Apollo mission to the moon. In most cases these include a set of objectives and a plan of actions to achieve these objectives. Recently US Defense has started to apply systems engineering concepts and practices to missions in what is being termed ‘Mission Engineering” - the deliberate planning, analyzing, organizing, and integrating of current and emerging operational and system capabilities to achieve desired mission effects. In this presentation Dr. Dahmann will discuss the motivation for employing systems approaches to mission capabilities as an extension and a broader context for application of systems of systems engineering.
Bio
Dr. Judith Dahmann is a Technical Fellow at the MITRE Corporation Center and the capability lead for Systems of Systems (SoS). Dr. Dahmann is the MITRE project leader for SE Technical Support to OUSD R&E supporting mission engineering (ME) activities and the application of digital engineering to ME. She was the technical lead for development of the DoD guide for systems engineering of systems of systems (SoS) and the project lead for ISO 21839, a international standard on ‘SoS Considerations Throughout the System Life Cycle’. Dr. Dahmann is also the task lead for a set of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) SoS programs investigating advanced technology approaches to complex SoS challenges. Dr. Dahmann is an INCOSE Fellow and the co-chair of the INCOSE Systems of Systems Working Group and the co-chair of the NDIA SE Division SoS Committee. She teaches Enterprise SE as an adjunct faculty member of the Johns Hopkins University in the Systems Engineering Program for Engineering Professionals.

If you have any questions regarding the logistics for the Talk series, please contact our Talks webinar coordinator, Ms. Mimi Marcus. If you would like to present in a future SERC Talk, please contact our SERC Talks Editor-in-Chief and SERC Research Council Chair, Dr. Barry Boehm. More information on future SERC Talks can be found here. Thank you!

NOTE TO PARTICIPANTS:
SERC Talks broadcasts using the Zoom Webinar Platform. Prior to the SERC Talk, we encourage all participants to install and test the platform to exercise full virtual capabilities. Installation is NOT required to join the session, as Zoom is accessible via web browser.

Zoom Installation | Zoom Web Client | Troubleshooting Guide

More information on future SERC Talks can be found here. Thank you!

SERC TALKS: “How Do We Make Sure Future Cyber-Physical Systems Are Human Centered, and In Particular, Trustworthy?”

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Speaker: Dr. Martin Törngren, Professor, KTH Royal Institute of Technology | CONTACT

Abstract
Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) - as integrations of computation, networking and physical processes - are becoming smarter, more automated, connected, upgradeable and collaborative. CPS provide a vast number of opportunities for innovation, and may for example help to address many of UN Sustainable Development Goals. Both technology and sustainability thus strongly require industrial transformation. At the same time, the development and life-cycle managmement of future CPS clearly push and challenge the boundaries of existing engineering methodologies and socio-technical frameworks; the unprecedented capabilities also represent unprecedented complexity.
Trustworthiness in particular means that the complexity of CPS needs to be manageable and that known challenges – such as the automation paradox, newer challenges – such as failure modes of AI and deep learning systems, and expanding challenges – such as those related to cyber-security and safety of open world systems, are understood and properly handled. This talk will provide the following perspectives to human centered CPS.
– trends and capabilities of future CPS, drawing upon lessons learnt from previous technological shifts,
– a complexity analysis of CPS, used to highlight bottlenecks in current (systems) engineering practices,
– directions towards trustworthy and circular CPS, including automated driving and edge computing will be taken as technological case studies for illustrative purposes.
Bio
Martin Törngren is a Professor in Embedded Control Systems at KTH since 2002. He has been a pioneer in bridging the gaps between the fields of automatic control and real-time distributed systems, with a focus over recent years particularly on architectural design, model-based engineering and safety of highly automated cyber-physical systems.Networking and multidisciplinary research have been characteristic throughout his career. He has spent several periods abroad as a visiting scholar, including 2011/12 at UC Berkeley, spring 2018 at Stevens Institute of Technology, and fall 2018 at UC Berkeley. He is the principal initiator and Director of the Innovative Centre for Embedded Systems – ICES - a KTH-industry competence network launched in 2008, and will be the director for the new KTH and industry center on Trustworthy Edge Computer Systems and Applications – to be launched during the spring 2020 in Sweden. (For more information, see here: www.tecosa.center.kth.se/ )

More information on future SERC Talks can be found here. Thank you!

This Talk is free to the public and all are welcomed to join and participate in this open discussion. Slides will be up at least two hours prior to the Talk if not sooner. If you have any questions regarding joining this session, please contact the SERC Talks webinar coordinator, Ms. Mimi Marcus. If you would like to present in a future SERC Talk, please contact our SERC Talks Editor-in-Chief and SERC Research Council Chair, Dr. Barry Boehm. Please register for meeting details.