Classical versus Domain Engineering in Undergraduate Systems Engineering Education

1. Classical versus Domain Engineeringin Undergraduate Systems Engineering Education Ariela Sofer George Mason University 1st Workshop on US Undergraduate Programs in Systems Engineering USAFA, April 7-8 2010

2. The SEOR Department • 17 faculty members • Academic Programs • BS in Systems Engineering • MS in Systems Engineering • MS in Operations Research • PhD in SEOR • Several Graduate Certificates • Active research program with over $200K in expenditures per faculty in 2009 SEOR

3. The BSSE Program About 110 students Accredited by ABET (since 1995) 14 of our 17 faculty regularly teach BS/SE students Two-semester senior design All faculty are required to attend senior design presentations each semester (for last 10 years) As a result we have established a surprisingly unanimous vision of what we want to see of our graduates. SEOR

4. A Bachelors Systems Engineer is an engineer • First and foremost • with • a strong systems perspective • an ability to address complex, ill defined problems • strong modeling and analysis skills • an ability to understand and incorporate uncertainty • management/leadership skills • working knowledge of SE processes SEOR

5. Roll back 10 years… More ambiguity in our goals for BS/SE grads Program had lots of electives Weaker students chose path of least (technical) resistance Some senior design projects (though certainly not all) were just run-of- the-mill SE processes. SEOR

6. What we did…. • Enforce the math engineering prereqs • Reduce number of elective courses in each track and the selection • 6 elective engineering tracks, with no selection within a track • Weave engineering projects within most of the SE courses • Require stochastic modeling, DA, second prob/stat • Senior design teams must handle complex, ill-defined problems SEOR

7. BSSE Curriculum classical domain Credits • General Education 21 • Math/CS 24 • Science/Engineering 17 • physics, chemistry, engineering • Application Track (elective) 9 • control syst., computer networks, aviation syst., eng. systems, software intensive systems, OR • Systems engineering 49 SEOR

8. BSSE Curriculum Domain Engineering Classical Engineering 20% But classical engineering strongly woven in 14% SEOR

9. Systems Engineering Courses (49 credits) • Understanding Systems Engineering (3) • Dynamic Systems Modeling I, II, & Lab (7) • Systems Design (3) • Systems Methodology (3) • Discrete Systems Simulation (3) • Systems Engineering Management (3) • Human Factors Engineering (3) • Decision and Risk Analysis (3) • Deterministic/Stochastic OR (6) • Probability; Statistics; (6) • Senior Seminar (3) • Senior Design Project (6) SEOR

10. Sample Projects within Curriculum SEOR

11. Senior Design Projects • Projects are • In teams (3-6) • Must have industrial sponsor • Should focus on a large complex system or problem • Students often will need to scope project down • Students need to learn domain area of project • Students are questioned on other students’ projects. • Students must submit final report and presentation • Students must write an IEEE paper and compete at UVA and USMA competitions • SEOR faculty attend all presentations SEOR

12. Sample Senior Design Projects • Regenerative Power Source for Long Duration Loitering Airship (Lockheed Martin) • West & Rhode River Water Quality Monitoring (Sivix Corp. and the West Rhode River Keeper) • Regional Environmental Monitoring System for Air Traffic at MWAA Airports (Metron Aviation) • Unmanned Aerial Collision Avoidance System (Mitre) • Dynamic Pricing for Highway Congestion (Noblis) • Landmine detection via UAV’s (C4I Center) SEOR

13. Conclusion Senior design teams have won numerous awards in senior design competitions. Positive feedback from project sponsors Positive feedback and strong demand from employers We believe we produce high quality systems engineers