It is widely accepted that systems engineering is a key element of all large engineering projects; however, one estimate is that the Department of Defense alone loses about $200 million per day as a result of poor systems engineering, and other Federal agencies acknowledge that they cannot meet their projected missions using current systems engineering practices. There has been a proliferation of calls for systems engineering, including the Secretary of Defense and the National Academies. Simultaneously over the past 25 years, elements of a theory of systems engineering have emerged. These elements point to an opportunity to formulate systems engineering as a rigorous engineering discipline. The elements span mathematics, economics, business, and psychology, as well as significant elements of engineering and the sciences. Numerous Universities and professional societies offer diverse educational programs and certifications in systems engineering. This workshop on systems engineering education will assist in the unification of these disparate perspectives and help the systems engineering community move forward via improving the overall systems engineering education function.
A survey of systems engineering related programs identified a diversity of systems engineering educations programs, without a consensus on how to create better systems engineering processes and the associated underlying educational foundations. The primary purpose of the workshop is to investigate the future of systems engineering education and not conduct a review of the history nor the current state of systems engineering education, but a look forward. The workshop will bring the leaders of the systems engineering community in the US together to investigate the following issues: 1) the needs of government and industry in terms of the tasks and roles that belong to systems engineering, 2) the elements of the skill and knowledge sets required to meet the systems engineering needs, 3) the organization of these elements into coherent systems engineering curricula at all levels, 4) the underlying theories that provide the needed skill and knowledge sets and that will form the basis of systems engineering education, and 5) the knowledge gaps that need to be researched that would enhance systems engineering education. Results of the workshop will be disseminated via a report and an archival publication.
