The Field of Engineering Systems and its Impact on Systems Engineering Presented By Dr. Donna Rhodes Massachusetts Institute of Technology August 9 th, 2005

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 What is Engineering Systems ? MITs Engineering Systems Division New Education Model Selected Examples of Research Impact of Engineering Systems on Systems Engineering Discussion Topics

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 MIT is tackling the large-scale engineering challenges of the 21st century through a new organization. The Engineering Systems Division (ESD) creates and shares interdisciplinary knowledge about complex engineering systems through initiatives in education, research, and industry partnerships. ESD broadens engineering practice to include the context of each challenge as well as the consequences of technological advancement. ESD has a dual mission: to define and evolve engineering systems as a new field of study and to transform engineering education and practice. MIT Engineering Systems Division

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Essential Points 1.MIT is not trying to rename or to replace Systems Engineering! 2.Engineering Systems is a field of academic study – not a job code, profession, process or practice 3.Engineering Systems is not equivalent to Systems Engineering 4.MIT believes that evolving the field of ES can have a positive impact on evolving SE – as a field and practice

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 DEFINITION Engineering Systems DEFINITION ENGINEERING SYSTEMS A field of study taking an integrative holistic view of large-scale, complex, technologically-enabled systems with significant enterprise level interactions and socio-technical interfaces

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Engineering Systems Systems of Interest are… Technologically Enabled Large Scale and Complex large number of interconnections and components Dynamic, involving multiple time scales and high uncertainty Social and natural interactions with technology Emergent Properties

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Examples of Systems of Interest Mega-city transportation systems Worldwide Air Transportation & Air Traffic Control System Consumer supply logistics networks Electricity generation & transmission system Joint Strike Fighter Program Enterprise These systems are all technologically enabled, have significant socio-technical interactions and have substantial complexity. It is also the case that to varying degrees an understanding of them requires an understanding of the enterprises that constructed them or within which they operate

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Engineering Systems Requires Four Perspectives 1.A very broad interdisciplinary perspective, embracing technology, policy, management science, and social science. 2.An intensified incorporation of system properties (such as sustainability, safety and flexibility) in the design process. Note that these are lifecycle properties rather than first use properties. These properties, often called ilities emphasize important intellectual considerations associated with long term use of engineering systems. 3.Enterprise perspective, acknowledging interconnectedness of the product system with the enterprise system that develops and sustains it. This involves understanding, architecting and developing organizational structures, policy system, processes, knowledgebase, and enabling technologies as part of the overall engineering system. 4.A complex synthesis of stakeholder perspectives, of which there may be conflicting and competing needs which must be resolved to serve the highest order system (system-of- system) need.

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Evolution of any field of study requires evolution of underlying subfields MIT cites four underlying ES subfields: Systems Engineering (including Systems Architecting) Operations Research and Systems Analysis (including System Dynamics) Engineering Management (including Supply Chain Mgmt) Technology & Policy Enterprise Architecting (could be a fifth subfield?)

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 MITs Desired Outcomes CHANGES in ENGINEERING EDUCATION In engineering schools across the world, undergraduates will be educated in the fundamental engineering sciences as now but will also be given an appreciation of the engineering systems context in which some of them will be doing their engineering At the graduate level, there will be well developed masters and doctoral degrees involving research on the various aspects of engineering systems IMPACT on REAL WORLD SYSTEMS Development of the field of engineering systems will enhance the ability to predict the development of new types and next generations of systems

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 MIT Engineering Systems Division New Education Model ENGINEERING SYSTEMS Political Economy Economics, Statistics Systems Theory Organizational Theory Operations Research /Systems Analysis System Architecture & Eng /Product Development Engineering Management Technology & Policy CTL- Center for Transportation & Logistics CIPD - Center for Innovation in Product Development CTPID - Center for Technology, Policy, & Industrial Development IPC - Industrial Performance Center TPP - Technology & Policy Program MLOG - Logistics & Supply Chains ESD Doctoral Program ESD SM Program SDM - Systems Design & Management LFM - Leaders for Manufacturing ENGINEERING SYSTEMS is a field of study taking an integrative holistic view of large-scale, complex, technologically-enabled systems with significant enterprise level interactions and socio-technical interfaces. ESD is an innovative, cross-cutting academic unit between most MIT School of Engineering departments; the Sloan School of Management; and the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 50+ faculty and senior research staff are devoted to teaching & research Over 400 masters and 60 doctoral students

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 ESD Goals & Objectives ESD will be an intellectual home for faculty from engineering, management, and the social sciences committed to integrative, interdisciplinary engineering systems programs ESD will develop concepts, frameworks, and methodologies that codify knowledge and define engineering systems as a field of study ESD will educate engineering students to be tomorrows leaders via innovative academic and research programs ESD will introduce engineering systems into the mainstream of engineering education by working with the MIT engineering departments, the Institute as a whole, and other engineering schools worldwide ESD will initiate research on engineering systems of national and international importance, working in partnerships with government and industry

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 MIT ESD Partnerships are an important part of our research strategy Over 110 corporate partners across many domains and industries and several strategic level partnerships under development MITRE Corporation Four joint MITRE Sponsored Research projects for FY2006 The Aerospace Corporation Exploring areas for research collaboration Air Force Center for Systems Engineering Partnership under LAI research program Several Air Force officers in ESD program Systems and Software Consortium, Inc Partnership between LAI research group and SSCI Supply Chain Exchange exists; Systems Engineering exchange in concept development

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Selected Examples of Doctoral Research MIT Engineering Systems Division

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Doctoral Student Research Profile Victor Tang Designing Decisions in Complex Organizations My research focuses on the application of engineering methods to the design of interdisciplinary senior-executive decisions in large and complex organizations with a special emphasis on the issues of robustness.

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Doctoral Student Research Profile Christine Ng Environmental First-Movers in the Diesel Vehicle Industry My doctoral research explores how environmental regulations can act as a source of competitive advantage for firms with superior technology and environmental performance. I am focusing on the diesel vehicle industry, and its response to emission and fuel regulations in the US, Japan, and EU.

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Doctoral Student Research Profile Nick McKenna Architecting The Project Enterprise: Designing and Implementing the Emergent Project Organization Within a Constrained Market Place My research investigates the extent to which the emergent project enterprise could be architected with a view to improving project performance. Project enterprises emerge over time as the contractors required are selected and awarded contracts. The impact of the temporal dynamic and the fundamental contracting relationships are central to understanding the emergence of the enterprise and in delivering a project successfully.

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Doctoral Student Research Profile Josh OConnell Design and Implementation of a Flexible Transportation System Using a Life-Cycle Flexibility Framework My research is exploring how ITS capabilities are used to create flexibility in transportation systems. It examines what activities at the technical, enterprise and institutional architecture levels are needed to enable, implement and sustain system flexibility, and how these should be structured and executed.

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Doctoral Student Research Profile Adam Ross Incorporating System Properties into Multi- Attribute Trade Space Exploration My research is exploring the relationships between flexibility, adaptability, robustness, and scalability for space systems and how they relate to unarticulated value. I am exploring how these ilities can be quantified and/or used as decision metrics when exploring trade spaces during conceptual design.

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Doctoral Student Research Profile Jason Bartolomei Dynamic Utility in Systems Architecting My research seeks to understand the causes and effects of changing stakeholder utility in the context of US Air Force weapon system acquisitions. Insight into dynamic utility will improve program planning strategies and target opportunities for system flexibility.

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Doctoral Student Research Profile Heidi Davidz Enabling Systems Thinking to Accelerate the Development of Senior Systems Engineers My research examines systems thinking development in engineers, including enablers, barriers, and precursors. Better understanding of systems thinking development provides a foundation for more effective and efficient educational interventions and employee development for engineering professionals across industry, government, and academia.

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Impact of Engineering Systems on Systems Engineering

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Two Perspectives Both are Needed – Depending on Context Systems Engineering PerspectiveEngineering Systems Perspective PolicyViewed as fixed and constraining system solution Viewed as variables --can be created or adapted to optimize overall solution Socio- technical Viewed as considerations in engineering practice Viewed as primary in understanding the overall system StakeholdersPrimary focus on customer and end- users with secondary focus on other stakeholders Balanced focus on all stakeholders impacted by engineering system -- product, enterprise, environment FocusFocus is primarily on the product system Focus is on product system, enterprise system, and environment PractitionersSystem architects, systems engineers, related specialists performing systems engineering process System architects, enterprise architects, engineers, operations analysis, project managers, policy makers, social scientists, and many others VisionPredictably develop systems with value to primary stakeholders Predictably develop sustainable engineering systems with value to society as a whole Ref: Rhodes, D. and Hastings, D. The Case for Evolving Systems Engineering as a Field within Engineering Systems, ESD Symposium March 2004

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Where Does Systems Engineering Fit ? Over the years, systems engineering has suffered from an identity crisis in the sense that it has never quite fit as an engineering science, nor has it quite fit as a management science. This ambiguity has resulted in organizations being unsure of where its practitioners should be placed within the overall organizational structure, particularly in domains outside aerospace and defense. Similarly, in universities we have evidenced schools, divisions, or colleges often reluctant to serve as the host for systems engineering departments or programs, citing a lack of academic rigor. Does the field of engineering systems provide an intellectual home for the field of systems engineering, as a hybrid engineering- management-policy science into which it can more logically fit?

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Impact of Engineering Systems on Systems Engineering personal perspective ES can provide a broader academic field of study (context field) for SE ES brings together a more diverse set of researchers and scholars who can benefit from (and contribute to) systems engineering principles and research ES establishes a larger footprint in an university to drive a strong research focus and investment in systems research ES has been a catalyst for 35+ universities coming together around a broader systems education agenda

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Similar Trends at Undergraduate Level (Harvard Crimson, July 29, 2005) Engineering To Broaden Focus Harvards push to expand its Division of Engineering and Applied Science (DEAS), begun in 2001, falls directly in line with recommendations released this past June by the National Academy of Engineering. In their report, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) called for engineering departments to widen their focus and to include more interdisciplinary work, both in research and the curriculum if they want to keep pace with an increasingly globalized world Harvard is not alone, however, in its push towards interdisciplinary study. In many ways, the National Academy report is following the tack of top engineering schools, rather than leading them in a new direction. The new approach recommended by the reportwhich calls for engineering to be integrated with other fields looking to create a new undergraduate track or concentration that focused on the interdisciplinary interplay of engineering and society. What will increase, …. will be the formalization of interdisciplinary affiliations, in the form of faculty joint appointments and institutes that bring together people from different fields,

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Essential Points MIT is not trying to rename or to replace Systems Engineering! Engineering Systems is a field of academic study – not a job code, profession, process or practice MIT believes that evolving the field of ES can have a positive impact on evolving SE

© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rhodes/Hastings 2005 Additional Information on MIT ESD ESD Website ESD Research Centers ESD Working Papers ESD Symposium Monographs and Papers Refer to ESD website for specific research interests and working papers of ESD faculty, researchers, and graduate students