Model-based Systems Engineering Boot Camp: An Initiative to Integrate Current Systems Engineering Transformations into Workforce Development

The University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg TX

Investigators

Abstract

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated engineers and technicians by supporting a workshop on model-based systems engineering for production engineering. Models are simplified representations of ideas, relationships, structures, and other constructs. Examples of models include graphs, diagrams, mathematical equations, and physical representations. Model-based systems engineering helps engineers better understand processes, make decisions, and predict outcomes. This project will support a two-day bootcamp on model-based systems engineering that will be held in El Paso, Texas. The bootcamp will include industry experts on model-based systems engineering, faculty from two- and four-year colleges and universities across the country, scientists from national laboratories, and trainers who will facilitate the bootcamp activities. To attract additional participants, the investigators will advertise the bootcamp through systems engineering professional societies. The bootcamp will produce white papers, model-based systems engineering training manuals, case studies, training examples, and printed workbooks. It will also develop guidelines for how to incorporate model-based systems engineering into curricula at all levels. A website will be used to provide the resulting open-access materials to any interested individual or organization. It is expected that this bootcamp will lay a foundation for improving and expanding model-based systems engineering education to enhance the capabilities of the Nation's STEM workforce. Model-based systems engineering is a systems engineering methodology that focuses on using models throughout a project life cycle, from design and development through operations. More recently, this approach has also been useful for computer simulation experiments, to further overcome the gap between the system model specification and the respective simulation software. Model-based systems engineering has the potential to increase productivity by minimizing unnecessary manual transcription of concepts when coordinating the work of large teams. The application of model-based systems engineering to production engineering systems is novel and of increasing importance as production systems become more complex. This project will seek to increase workforce skills in this important area of engineering. This project is funded by NSF's EHR Core Research: Production Engineering Education and Research (ECR: PEER) program, which seeks to improve the education of future and current professionals in production engineering. It also aims to study the effectiveness of the innovative educational strategies adopted by these projects. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.