| NSF Org: |
CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 24, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 24, 2015 |
| Award Number: | 1548480 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Rich Malak
CMMI Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | August 1, 2015 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $49,531.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $49,531.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
300 TURNER ST NW BLACKSBURG VA US 24060-3359 (540)231-5281 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
7054Haycock Road Falls Church VA US 22043-2311 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | SYS-Systems Science |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
Systems engineering has evolved over the last forty years as a systematic approach towards the engineering of complex systems. While the practice of systems engineering has resulted in many successful systems, the theory underlying this practice has not yet been fully developed. This workshop aims to provide an investigation of the theoretical foundations of systems engineering. Over the long-term this will have implications for the practice, education, and outreach of systems engineering. In the current practice there is a wide spread need to have well educated systems engineers that exhibit flexibility and capability when addressing the design and production issues associated with complex engineered systems. The discovery of the theoretical foundations of the field will be a step forward in addressing societal needs related to better designed engineered systems and improved systems engineering and educational and outreach programs.
The objective of this workshop is to investigate and define theoretical foundations for systems engineering with respect to one among many fundamental thrust areas such as risk management or trade-space exploration. To achieve this objective, the workshop participants will follow an approach that will address theoretical gaps in the literature, define an axiomatic framework, suggest what can be borrowed from other disciplines, investigate synergies among thrust areas and link the theoretical foundations to societal needs. If successful, the approach followed in this workshop can be used and augmented to address additional thrust areas in the future. This will allow for the creation of rigorous theoretical frameworks that can subsequently be tested with solid empirical fieldwork.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Workshop Outcomes
Systems engineering is a field in transition. There are numerous researchers, who have elucidated on the failures of the systems engineering field and its processes. The research community argues that the lack of a theoretical foundation is in part responsible for the manifestations of these failures. This workshop investigated the theoretical foundations of the systems engineering field with a focus on abstraction and elaboration. The reason for this focus is that practicing systems engineers use abstraction and elaboration when they are involved with a wide range of system engineering activities (including system architecting, allocating system engineering tasks, designing system engineering organizations, communicating with system stakeholders, framing need statements, and eliciting properly bounded system requirements). The workshop was conducted under the assumption that an improved understanding of abstraction and elaboration should help one to differentiate between effective system engineering structures and relationships, as well as an understanding of how to communicate them effectively within systems engineering. It is assumed that this will have long-term implications for the practice of systems engineering. Additionally, by establishing the theoretical foundations of abstraction and elaboration will have implications for the education and outreach of the discipline. The contention of the workshop is that the theory of abstraction and elaboration should help identify the parameters and factors that would contribute to effective educational and training programs. Therefore, the discovery of the theoretical foundations of the field will be a step forward in addressing societal needs related to better designed engineered systems, improved educational and outreach programs. One last outcome of the workshop is that the structure and process followed during the workshop could become a benchmark for other workshops on the theory of systems engineering.
Last Modified: 08/12/2018
Modified by: Konstantinos P Triantis
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