WORLDCOMP'10 Tutorial: Prof. Anthony A. Maciejewski

This year, CNN-Money ranked “Systems Engineer” as the number one best job in America. According to CNN, systems engineers are the “big think managers on large, complex projects” with the demand for their skills soaring “as what was once a niche job in the aerospace and defense industries becomes commonplace among a diverse and expanding universe of employers.” But what exactly is “Systems Engineering”? This tutorial is an introduction that will provide an overview of this relatively new engineering discipline.

The term systems engineering is said to have been conceived by Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1940’s, however, it largely came of age during 1960’s with the advent of the US space program, most notably the Apollo program. System engineering principles provide a formal mechanism for dealing with the design and implementation of complex, interdisciplinary systems, with a focus on a holistic view. As such, it requires that one obtain a broad view of multiple disciplines, including those that are not typically taught in engineering curricula. It also requires that one consider all aspects of a system over its entire lifetime.

This tutorial introduces both the depth and breadth of systems engineering principles. It will discuss the entire systems engineering life cycle, starting with needs analysis, concept exploration and definition, through to advanced technology development, engineering design, integration and evaluation, all the way to production, deployment at the operational site, and finally retirement. It will also introduce the tools that one needs in order to explore the tradeoffs between system performance, cost, and schedule. In addition, it will present techniques for being able to quantify the risks that are always associated with putting together a new system consisting of advanced technology, and, even more importantly, the tools for mitigating those risks.

• Acquire a holistic systems engineering perspective
• Apply systems engineering to practical problems
• Understand the system life-cycle process and the associated techniques in that process

This course is intended for faculty, engineers, scientists, and students who want an overview of the field of systems engineering, i.e., a formal approach for dealing with the entire life-cycle of large, complex, interdisciplinary systems. It is also useful for those who are considering a career as a systems engineer.

Anthony A. (Tony) Maciejewski received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering in 1982, 1984, and 1987, respectively, all from The Ohio State University. From 1988 to 2001, he was a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. In 2001, he joined Colorado State University where he is currently the Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He has co-authored 200 technical publications in the areas of robotics and high-performance computing and served on eight journal editorial boards and over 80 conference program committees. He is a Fellow of IEEE and has served on the Executive Committee for its Robotics and Automation Society. A complete up-to-date vita is available at www.engr.colostate.edu/~aam

Prof. Anthony A. Maciejewski, Head
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1373
Tel: (970) 491-6600
Fax: (970) 491-2249
aam@colostate.edu
http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~aam/