Systems Engineering at Purdue: A work in progress

1. Systems Engineering at Purdue: A work in progress 03 April 2008 at USC CESUN Meetings – Day 2 - Panel Discussion prepared by: Prof. Bill Crossley (crossley@purdue.edu)School of Aeronautics and Astronautics Chair of System of Systems Signature Area and Prof. Vince Duffy (duffy@purdue.edu) School of Industrial Engineering; Ag. & Bio. Eng. Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering

2. Recent Purdue SE discussion / thinking

3. Purdue Activities Related to Systems Engineering • System of Systems signature area • “Trans-disciplinary” research initiative originated by AAE faculty member • College-level, involves faculty in several schools • AAE Aerospace Systems area • Research and curriculum for design, development, operation of aerospace systems (aircraft, spacecraft, etc.) • Within AAE; involves plans of study, shared research interests, PhD qualifying examination • Systems Engineering education • Educational support to SoS research • Address external stakeholder needs for graduate education in SE • Could be college-level, currently AAE-led, support offered from ProEd System of Systems signature area AAE Aerospace Systems area Systems Engineering education

4. Stakeholder / Customer Push for SE • Industry and government employers looking for systems engineers • Aerospace / defense organizations: • Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Motors, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, GE Aircraft Engines, NASA, USAF • Other engineering / product development companies: • Cummins, General Motors, International Truck • Student interest developing around new course offerings • Purdue Alumni at companies are earning graduate SE degrees from other universities • Crossroads of America (IN / IL) chapter of INCOSE actively engaging Purdue – have twice hosted mini-conference on campus • Involvement with Lean Aerospace Initiative highlights need for systems engineering • Student interest in systems engineering topics and in academic programs linked to SoS signature area

5. Plans for SE Academics at Purdue • Interactions to gain “best practices” and to see potential models with: • Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Cummins, NASA • Air Force Systems Engineering Center of Excellence • CESUN • AERO (Aerospace Education, Research, Operations) Institute in Palmdale, CA • Center of Excellence in Systems Engineering at Indiana-Purdue Ft. Wayne • Purdue Engineering Professional Education (ProEd) • Offers graduate courses, non-thesis MSE degrees to distance-learning students • Fall 2007, offered GRAD 597N “Introduction to Systems Engineering” • Instructor, Dr. Dan Surber, Principal Engineer of Systems Engineering and Systems Safety Engineering Division at Raytheon Technical Services, Indianapolis, IN • Taught using studio facility at IUPUI in Indianapolis • Available only to distance-learning students for Fall 07; intend to have available for on-campus West Lafayette students Fall 09 • New Engineering Management and Leadership MSE degree specialization • Plans of study will contain 9 credits of “systems engineering” topics • Common SE courses to support ProEd MSE specialization and on-campus area of concentration

6. Options for SE Academics at Purdue • Three major options • Area of concentration • Students earn MS degree from “traditional” engineering program • Certificate • Post-baccalaureate course work, fewer credits than MS degree • MS degree in Systems Engineering • Non-thesis option likely; thesis option possible • Prevailing attitudes favor Graduate Area of Concentration in SE • Most Purdue on-campus students have little previous work experience • Often cited as necessary prerequisite for graduate degree in Systems Engineering • Re-emphasized in discussions with Mike Griffin, NASA Administrator • Comparative “ease” of implementation • No new school or department • No (or few) new additional faculty • Several existing Areas of Concentration to provide template

7. Potential Graduate Area of Concentration • Students earn graduate degree from existing school • For example, MS AAE, MS CE, MS ME, etc. • Total of 30 credits (all course work, if non-thesis option; 21 credits course work with thesis option) • Systems Engineering area of concentration appears on transcript • Students take three to four SE courses (nine to 12 credits) from an approved list • Choose from a “core” list covering SE topics and a “related” list with discipline-specific topics • Need to leverage GRAD 597N “Introduction to Systems Engineering” course as a core course • Several precedents exist for this • “Software Engineering” - cooperation between Computer Science and Engineering (across Colleges) one of the most visible

8. Potential Certificate Program • Post-graduate studies resulting in an awarded certificate • 12 or 15 credits (four or five courses) in Systems Engineering • Courses from same list of courses that could be used in area of concentration (at graduate school level, not short courses) • Precedents exist for this • Digital Signal Processing from EE, as an example • Quality Engineering program under development as interdisciplinary • Purdue Engineering Professional Education (ProEd) helping to coordinate new certificates • Enables off-campus students to pursue advanced study • A lower-commitment than direct entry in MS program

9. Graduate Degree in Systems Engineering • Would require an entire SE curriculum • 30 course credits for MS non-thesis, 21 for MS thesis option • Likely need several new courses • Faculty needed to serve as advisory committee chairs and members • Thesis topics in SE maybe more difficult to define • Should include some sort of SE practice / case study / similar as formal part of program • Somewhat more challenging to implement • New faculty likely needed • New program or department needed

10. SE-related Courses on Campus • Many engineering faculty have teaching and research interests aligned with systems engineering • Systems engineering-related courses are currently available on campus • Predominately graduate (dual; 500) level courses • Focus is usually discipline-specific (e.g. aerospace systems, civil engineering systems) • Purdue strengths in operations research, optimization, systems modeling and analyses

11. A Sampling of Current SE-relevant Courses • AAE 550 “Multidisciplinary Design Optimization” • Basics of numerical optimization. Calculus-based techniques for univariate and multivariate optimization. Constrained and unconstrained optimization methods. Global optimization methods. Multi-objective optimization. Recent multidisciplinary design optimization. • Applications of methods and techniques to representative engineering problems, culminating in a final project. • AAE 551 “Design Theory and Methods for Aerospace Systems” • Introduction to design theory, aerospace design process, design specification and requirements, concept generation and selection, design decomposition, improving designs, process design, concurrent engineering, and design for X. • Projects allow for application and analysis of design methods.

12. A Sampling of Current SE-relevant Courses • CE 594 “Transportation Systems Analysis” • Planning, design, operation, and management of transportation systems. Aims to impart a systems perspective to transportation problems. • Incorporates concepts from economics, engineering, operations research, management, psychology, and public policy analysis. • CE 660 “Demand Analysis And Forecasting” • Analysis and forecasting of demand for facilities and services, for use in the planning, design, and operations of transportation systems. Emphasis on the collection and analysis of survey data for demand model development. • Covers alternative sample designs, individual choice theories, probabilistic discrete choice models, estimation of disaggregate and aggregate models, and aggregate forecasting methods and simulation.

13. A Sampling of Current SE-relevant Courses • ME 553 “Product and Process Design” • Principles of product and process development to produce a marketable product, a preliminary business strategy and prototype. • Team-based project course; A market analysis, design parameters, manufacturing prototype plan, production process plan, and a business strategy will be developed by project team. • ME 557 “Design for Manufacture” • Topics include the product development cycle, manufacturing process selection, tolerancing, quality function deployment (QFD), design for assembly (DFA), quality control techniques, Taguchi's robust design methodology, life cycle engineering, and reliability. • Laboratory projects in the area of tolerancing, assembly, and manufacturability are included.

14. A Sampling of Current SE-relevant Courses • ME 571 “Reliability Based Design” • Basic concepts of probability and random variables. Time-dependent reliability models. Strength-based reliability and interference theory. Weakest-link and fail-safe systems. Extremal distributions. Monte Carlo methods. Maintainability and availability. Fault tree analysis. Quality control and reliability. • Relevant courses available from other departments / schools include (but are not limited to) • ECE: computer systems, power systems, distributed systems • IE: operations research • MGMT: new product design, total quality management

15. A Sampling of Current SE-relevant Courses • IE 656A Design of IT Systems • Research seminar providing understanding of human-computer interaction theory and research methodologies with emphasis on human factors for systems with a variety of industrial application. • IE656B Modeling Healthcare Systems • Research seminar providing bridge between human factors, systems and healthcare for improved clinical performance, healthcare delivery and patient safety systems. • IE656C Digital Human Modeling • Research seminar focused on advancing computer-aided engineering tools to provide visualization and math/science that enable human factors and ergonomics considerations earlier in the design process. • Each of the IE656 courses is focused on helping graduate students learn the research process.

16. Next Steps for Purdue SE • Purdue participants to move forward with formalizing and gaining approval for Systems Engineering area of concentration • Formalize SE curriculum/ academic advisory council • Analog to school industrial advisory council • Industry and government SE experts to help craft programs, provide continuous improvement • Leverage ProEd’s Introduction to Systems Engineering course • Serve as core course, independent of specific disciplines • Facilitate on-campus student enrollment • Identify opportunities for case study and SE practice as part of academic studies • Requires input and collaboration from industry / government advisory council and other partners

17. Continue cooperation to better serve Ph.D. program development • Internally consider Branding; what level of recognition is needed now (vs. what may happen more naturally with time); • what may quicken that impact (eg. rankings; funding; success of junior faculty hires; continued communication/support between and within; consider ES/SE in ENGR 2020 education initiatives) • Opportunities to share experience with new AAE home- building developed for cross-disciplinary engineering and research – Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering • Continue hiring/recruiting faculty across Engineering Schools (depts). Including AAE, Civil, Industrial Eng. • https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/ • SoS has hired 2 faculty over the last 3 years; interviewing now - will hire this 1 year; 2 in coming 2-4 years. • IE alone has 9 faculty positions remaining (hired 3 in the past year; interviewed 10 this semester – will likely hire 3 this year) • Head Search - Industrial Engineering - position announcement

18. ES/SE Program Development Challenges • At M.S. level • there are obvious ‘new program’ opportunities to meet external demand • however, junior faculty time spent in new course prep for grad level courses that primarily have non-research track students can be (justifiably) questioned by senior faculty concerned about long term School/College interests • At Ph.D. level • New faculty hires require awareness among existing faculty about potential impact of multi-disciplinary; trans-disciplinary and/or cross-disciplinary research • A blending of research cultures (across disciplines) and faculty generations is occurring; • consideration of breadth vs. depth can be supported by faculty cooperation – yet, junior faculty may be evaluated somewhat by their ability to develop their research portfolios more independently • continual balancing of preconceived notions of ‘need’ within the College with perspectives on ‘excellence’ eg. ‘know it when you see it’.