Defining the Core Body of Knowledge (CorBoK) for a Graduate Program in Systems Engineering: A Work in Progress
- Conference
- Location
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San Antonio, Texas
- Publication Date
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June 10, 2012
- Start Date
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June 10, 2012
- End Date
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June 13, 2012
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Divisions
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Engineering Management, Systems Engineering, and Industrial Engineering
- Page Count
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18
- Page Numbers
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25.382.1 - 25.382.18
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--21140
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/21140
- Download Count
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543
Paper Authors
Alice F. Squires Stevens Institute of Technology
Alice Squires is Manager of Systems Engineering at Aurora Flight Sciences and an adjunct systems engineering faculty for the School of Systems and Enterprises at Stevens Institute of Technology. She is one of many authors on the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (http://www.sebokwiki.org/) and the Graduate Curriculum for Systems Engineering (http://bkcase.org/grcse-05). She was previously a Senior Researcher for the Systems Engineering University Affiliated Research Center (SE UARC) and Online Technical Director for the School of Systems and Enterprises. She has served as a Senior Systems Engineer consultant to Lockheed Martin, IBM, and EDO Ceramics, for Advanced Systems Supportability Engineering Technology and Tools (ASSETT), Inc. Squires also previously served as a Senior Engineering Manager for General Dynamics (GD) and Lockheed Martin (LM), and as a technical lead for IBM. She is an INCOSE-certified CSEP and CSEP-Acq, and she has a Ph.D. in dystems engineering, a M.B.A. and a B.S.E.E. and began her professional career as an analyst for Delex Systems, Inc. Squires is a lifetime member of Beta Gamma Sigma (business), Tau Beta Pi (national engineering), and Eta Kappa Nu (national electrical engineering) honorary societies and is a member of ASEE, IEEE, NDIA, and INCOSE and Past Chair of the ASEE Systems Engineering Division. Squires received the Stevens Institute of Technology Provost’s Online Teaching Excellence Award in 2007; the General Dynamics Technical Achievement in Safety Award in 2002; the Lockheed Martin Outstanding Team Award in 1998; and multiple technical awards from IBM from 1986 to 1993. Her research interests include engineering education, distance education, workforce competency development, and systems thinking.
Timothy L.J. Ferris University of South Australia
Tim Ferris holds B.E. (hons.), Adelaide, BTh, Flinders, BLittHons, Deakin, GradCertEd, QUT, Ph.D., South Australia. He has worked at the University of South Australia for 21 years and is responsible for the teaching activities of the Defence and Systems Institute. He is the Associate Director Academic Research in INCOSE and is the lead author of the Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering, GRCSE. His research interests are in the nature of systems engineering, research methods for engineering, cross-cultural issues in engineering practice, and engineering education.
Joseph J. Ekstrom Brigham Young University
Joseph Ekstrom spent 30 years in systems/software development as an engineer and manager. He is currently the Program Chair of the Information Technology program at Brigham Young University. His research interests include network and systems management, distributed computing, system modeling and architecture, system development, cybersecurity, and curriculum development.
Mary D. VanLeer Perceptive-Systems
Mary. VanLeer has more 30 years experience in defining, designing, and supporting IT solutions for high-end data center environments. She has held the positions of Director, Serviceability, Software Engineering, at Sun Microsystems, Director of Engineering Operations at International Game Technology, and Director of Information Technology at the Arkansas Lottery Commission. In those positions, VanLeer introduced new verification methods to test the robustness of the products' system recovery capabilities and led numerous initiatives in the quality efforts for diagnosability, serviceability, and fault management, led an initiative to understand and build the engineering capabilities focusing on systems engineering, and built the internal IT infrastructure for Arkansas’s new state lottery. As a member of the International Council on Systems Engineering, VanLeer advocates an agile systems engineering set of disciplines without sacrificing the innovation style of today's engineers.
Garry Roedler Lockheed Martin
Garry Roedler’s systems engineering career at LM spans the full system life cycle and includes technical leadership roles in both programs and systems engineering business functions. As a LM Fellow and the corporate Engineering Outreach Program Manager, Roedler is responsible for executing an external outreach strategy for LM leadership, influence, and leverage of technical industry associations. Prior roles include: Senior SE Program Manager, managing corporate councils for SE, Test & Evaluation, and Specialty Engineering focused on engineering practices, training, and improvement; Process Manager in IS&GS, responsible for strategic planning of technology needs, process technology development/infusion, and process definition/improvement; this included achievement/sustainment of Level 5 SE-CMM/CMMI objectives; Technical leadership roles on programs/proposals, Technical Lead for system installation/demonstration/deployment, Customer Liaison, and System Analysis Manager; and mathematics instructor, secondary/college level. Roedler holds degrees in mathematics education and mechanical engineering from Temple University and the Expert Systems Engineering Professional (ESEP) certification from INCOSE. Roedler has numerous publications and presentations, and is the recipient of many awards, including the INCOSE Founders Award, Best SE Journal Article, and IEEE Golden Core. His leadership roles across many technical organizations include editor of ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, Systems Life Cycle Processes, and several other standards.
Abstract
Defining the Core Body of Knowledge (CorBoK) for a Graduate Program in Systems Engineering: A Work in ProgressAbstractAs part of the Body of Knowledge and Curriculum to Advance Systems Engineering (BKCASE™) project, a Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering (GRCSE™) is being developed to assist in the improvement of existing or development of new graduate programs in systems engineering. The goal of GRCSE is to provide a curriculum framework to institutions for both developing and communicating their system engineering graduate program content so that there is a more common understanding of the content that is addressed within the programs and more consistency across the programs. Yet the framework is also designed so that institutions can preserve their unique specialties and university-‐specific requirements. One of the many challenges in defining GRCSE has beenidentifying a feasible approach for defining the core body of systems engineering knowledge thatevery graduate student should be exposed to prior to graduating from the program. GRCSE defines this core body of knowledge (CorBoK) as the set of core topics recommended for inclusion in every professional Masters program; with the intent that mastery of the content of these core topics is required of all graduates. The CorBoK is comprised of two parts: 1) the truly common part: the core foundation to be learned by everyone who goes through a master’s program, and 2) a core concentration that favors one of several emphases. An institution can choose to implement one or more of the concentration areas. The idea is that a student would select an available concentration area and learn the corresponding extension of core knowledge in that area, in addition to the knowledge in the core foundation, as part of the CorBoK of the program. GRCSE intentionally limits the CorBoK to no more than 50% of the total knowledge conveyed in a graduate systems engineering program in order to encourage and enable wide variation across institutions and to accommodate unique emphases in other areas. This paper describes the approach used to define the CorBoK in the version 0.5 draft of GRCSE released in December 2011; the challenges associated with developing the approach; and the strengths and weaknesses of the approach. The paper then describes considerations and future plans under development for defining the final CorBoK for the version 1.0 release of the GRCSE scheduled for public release in December 2012.
Squires, A. F., & Ferris, T. L., & Ekstrom, J. J., & VanLeer, M. D., & Roedler, G. (2012, June), Defining the Core Body of Knowledge (CorBoK) for a Graduate Program in Systems Engineering: A Work in Progress Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21140
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