A Distributed Systems Engineering Curriculum For Working Engineers In California

Abstract

As part of a workforce initiative grant, we are developing a catalog and curricular structure to enable working engineers in California to obtain Systems Engineering education from a variety of providers in a self-paced manner. The target audience for this effort is companies and individuals who require better Systems Engineering capabilities, but lack the resources and infrastructure for training. These include second-tier suppliers to the aerospace industry, biomedical engineering companies, information technology companies, utilities, and any other California companies that would benefit from better systems engineering processes. Surveys sent to a broad cross-section of California corporations were used to elicit a list of 44 Systems Engineering Competencies. Analysis of these 44 competencies resulted in a core set of critical skills, plus three Systems Engineering Concentrations: SE Management, SE Processes, and SE Techniques. A search for California-based providers of systems engineering coursework (primarily universities, but also government and private organizations) resulted in 200+ courses from nominally 20 providers in a delivery format suitable for working professionals: evening, weekend, shortcourse, and distance-learning. Relevant course information of these classes were integrated into a relational database where they could be easily cross-referenced to the systems engineering concentrations and competencies By the end of this program, a pilot run of 100 students will have attended a 3-day SE Fundamentals seminar, which will provide both an overview of Systems Engineering and a “roadmap” to independently continue their Systems Engineering education. The physical embodiment of the roadmap is a course catalog that provides the cross referencing between Systems Engineering Competencies and suitable courses, as well as offers curricular guidelines based upon the Systems Engineering Concentrations.