News Archive
21 September 2011 Dinner Meeting
The meeting announcements focused on the upcoming meetings for October and November. Paul Martin, the chapter's communication officer, explained that the new improved website will give an opportunity of members to share their Systems Engineering ruminations in the new INCOSE-CC blog space. Carol Hutchinson, the chairman of the Evaluation Committee for the chapter's Systems Engineer of the Year (SEY), explained that the nomination deadline is close, 09/30/2011. Details at the chapter's SEY webpage >>HERE<<.
Agile Systems Engineering
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| Dr. Suzette Johnson extolling the various virtues of the Agile Environment |
Over 60 attendees got to hear Dr. Suzette Johnson provided a nice overview of Agile from a Systems Engineering perspective. She explained the importance of enabling the value chain within an organization. She showed the 12 Agile Principles as outlined by Agile Manifesto for Software Development. She emphasized "The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation" which is the opposite to the business push for a more distributed development team. Dr. Johnson had more to share as she discussed such topics as the INCOSE SE Handbook view of Agile, the fact the Agile Framework is NOT a methodology, and the importance in capturing requirements by developing good User Stories, including Epic Stories. How effective was she? Well, Brad Boytim, Systems Engineer for SI Organization, explained this was the first time he heard a lecture on Agile that didn't scare him to death. Check it out for yourself by …
>>Downloading her presentation HERE<<
17 September 2011 Saturday Tutorial
Practical Concepts for Model Based Systems Engineering
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| Zane Scott teaching at the MBSE Tutorial |
On Saturday, 17 September, Zane Scott of Vitech Corporation presented a four hour tutorial on Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). Zane is a pioneer in the non-traditional uses of MBSE. His experience with process analysis and improvement combined with his non-systems engineering background made for a fresh perspective on the tutorial topic. Zane reminded us that a set of views is not a model. Views don’t have characteristics. When we use only a set of views we short shrift the system logic and functionality. As a context for MBSE, Zane exhorted us to always consider three systems. First is the subject system or the system of interest. The second is the system that the subject system resides in or the contextual system. The third and last system and the one often neglected is the system that you’re using to design or in other words the system you use for disciplining your design process. MBSE, aiding us to look at systems both analytically and synthetically, is both timely and relevant for the design and implementation of the complex systems that challenge the systems engineer today.
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| Model Based Systems Engineering Process: Inputs and Outputs |
Interested in seeing what all the excitement was all about? Check out the slides Zane used by ...
>>Downloading his presentation HERE<<
This Tutorial was well attended, with over 35 attendees, and most found the lecture and teaching very enlightening. The INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter would like to thank the Applied Physics Laboratory for supporting this tutorial through use of their facility and Vitech Corporation for providing Mr. Scott. The proceeds from this event will be given to the James E. Long Memorial Fund.
7 September 2011 INCOSE SEP Gala
Celebrating the Systems Engineering Professional
On September 7, 2011 the Engineers Club of Baltimore was invaded by a cadre of Systems Engineering Professionals (SEPs) of the associate, certified, and expert variety. The setting within the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion was elegant and occasion was celebratory as these SEPs were honored for their achievement. Drinks, Dinner and Dessert were suitably delicious in such a venue. Discussions, conversation and discourse abounded between the 50 participants. Not just SEPs but Chesapeake Chapter Board Members and past presidents, past System Engineers of the Years, and assorted spouses and significant others as well.
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| John Thomas speaking at the 2nd Annual CSEP Gala |
After the dinner and during dessert, the first speaker Mr. Stephen P. Welby; Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Engineering, opened the ceremony by remarking how appropriate this celebration was occurring in the Engineers Club where a multitude of different Engineering disciplines are represented and Systems Engineering, the youngest of them all, is the engineering cross domain integrator. He went on to discuss DoD's challenges in the practice and profession of systems engineering and commended INCOSE for creating –ACQ extension for the SEPs. This extension is based on the Defense Acquisition Guidebook SE chapters and provides equivalence to the DAWIA Systems Planning, Research, Development and Engineering (SPRDE) level 2. He continued explaining the need to rethink what makes a great engineer: Breath across domains; Depth in experience and expertise; and Capability of leadership. He challenged the SEPs in the room to take their certificates and "Go Do Great Things."
Next the four Maryland ESEPs where honored for their specific accomplishment in earning such a prestigious certification. David Fadeley, Karl Geist, Stephen Sutton, and Mark Walker each received a citation and special INCOSE Chesapeake Coin on a ribbon.
John Thomas, Senior Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton and President Elect on the INCOSE Board of Directors, gave an inspiring speech on how systems engineers "Do Great Things" by solving complex problems. He pointed out how the US Space Program which consists of many and various complex sub-systems (shuttle, launch, control, tracking, communications, research and operation support) all help build "National Branding." And look how the Singapore Water System (collection, distribution, storage, purification, tracking, flow management and quality) leads to 'National Sovereignty." He went on to explain that it is the SEPs that break down barriers; get the job done; collaborate; solve the problem; own the mission and are the most resourceful. He expressed his pride in knowing that each SEP, by receiving their certification, is an Systems Engineer that "walks the talk."
Overall the program was a huge success with inspiring speeches, the ability to mingle with peers, and to be able to celebrate one of the most important professions in the world. All due to the programs committee's hard work and attention to detail. Specially Erik DeVito, the event coordinator, who did an outstanding job of managing the logistics that go into such an event. Well done.
August 2011: After Action Report
Business First
The INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter's August 17, 2011 meeting was well attended with 37 for dinner and 50 for the documentary. Never underestimate the power of free pizza. Several business items were attended to prior to the main event.
- Ballots for the vote to change the Chapter's Bylaws were issued to all the Chesapeake Chapter members in attendance. George Anderson explained that the proposal was to allow electronic voting of officers for the Board of Directors. As well as to move the timeframe of the voting to September. After the meeting the votes were counted and the proposal passed overwhelming -- 31 voting for the Bylaw change and only 1 against.
- George also reminded the members that Election for next year's Board of Directors is approaching fast and nominations will continue to be accepted until September 1st. All Chapter members in good standing are encouraged to run for any open position.
- Don York discussed upcoming events such as next months Agile Systems Engineering with Dr. Suzette Johnson; a special tutorial called "Practical Concepts for Model Based Systems Engineering" presented by Vitech Corporation on September 17th. He also announced that November will be the much anticipated PMI/INCOSE panel to be held at the UMBC Technology Center
- Past President Glenn Townson announced that October ISSA International Conference will have Keith Alexander as a speaker. INCOSE members get a discount as explained in the flyer he provided to the chapter.
Movie: The Deming of America
Don York, Programs Director, introduced this really seen documentary of Priscilla Petty interviewing the legendary Dr. W. Edwards Deming. The amazing part was Dr. Deming's insistence in taking into account the whole SYSTEM! That boundaries are all inclusive -- from the customer, the workers and their families, and even the companies leadership. His goal -- "Optimize the System! Everybody gains, no losers"
The interview was punctuated by brief remarks from leaders from GM, Ford, Xerox, GE Aircraft Engines, P&G, and the Navy, all who learned from Deming, show how he affected their thinking about their lives and provided a new "world view" based on a Systems Approach.
Dr. Deming said, "Pay is not a Motivator" - the main principle behind the book, Daniel H. Pink's book "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us"
Another great quote: "Stop worrying about competitors but focus on your customers and expanding the market."
The door prizes included DVDs of a Deming lecture at APL back the 1980s. We want to thank APL/JHU for such a generous donation.
EXTRA: In 1984, General Motors and Toyota opened NUMMI as a joint venture. Toyota showed GM the secrets of its production system: How it made cars of much higher quality and much lower cost than GM achieved. BUT GM didn't learn the lessons—until it was too late. Listen to the "This American Life" podcast.
The free pizza was flowing as was the conversations. The movie was thought provoking and provided even more conversation afterwards. Many new faces were in the crowd and they got see firsthand the many networking opportunities during these INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter events.
July 2011: After Action Report
The Business Part of the Meeting
The INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter's July 20, 2011 meeting had a record breaking attendance with 54 for dinner and 73 for the speaker. But several business items were attended to prior to the main event.
- Paul B Martin, Communications Officer, demonstrated the chapters comprehensive website. Including the SEY section which is seeking nominations.
- John Lewis, President, presented a $2000 check to the Dr. William Ewald for the INCOSE Foundation is a charitable organization with the stated goal of advancing the development and image of systems engineering through funded scholarships, research, and international forums. Our Chapter sponsors three $500 scholarships to three local Engineering schools, UMBC, UMCP, and JHU. The Chesapeake Chapter is proud to donate to such a worthy cause. Learn more about the Foundation, its mission, and the several scholarships they offer, through the web-page at the corporate INCOSE website.
- Gundars Osvalds, President-Elect, gave the members an account of the INCOSE International Symposium at Denver this past June. He said the lectures, tutorials, and meetings were all great. He suggested that those who didn't go to IS2011 to buy the Proceedings at the INCOSE Store in order to get the latest in Systems Engineering research and trends. The best part was receiving the Gold Circle award and the Most Improved Performance award.
- John Lewis made it clear that George Anderson, Past-President, was the reason we received these awards. George asked the entire Board and Committee Members to come up for a photo-op.
- John Lewis explained the Ambassadors program where organizations help sponsor our Chapters endeavors. If your company can be involved please contact John at John.Lewis@incose.org.
- George Anderson explained that there is a proposal to change the Chapter's Bylaws to allow for electronic voting. See details >>HERE<<. He also reminded the members that Election for next year's Board of Directors. All Chapter members in good standing are encouraged to run for any open position. More details will be coming.
Lecture: Challenges and Opportunities for Systems Engineering from a DoD Perspective
Don York, Programs Director, introduced Mr. Stephen P. Welby; Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Engineering. Mr. Welby starting his talk by thanking all the Systems Engineers in the audience (which was a vast majority) for being such optimist and dreamers. Systems Engineers change the world into a better place. And our country is in desperate need for more Systems Engineers. Challenges from a Global Perspective like finding reliable and sustainable power; addressing environmental concerns; fixing the aging infrastructure; creating affordable medical care; growing clean and abundant food; providing a secure environment (military, economic, and political ). And what role does the United States play in addressing these challenges? We are a nation of builders – from Rail Roads to Space Travel – and we have innovation on our side.
Focusing on the Secure Environment challenge, Mr. Welby explained how DoD is the world's largest SE organization with 93,000 uniformed and civilian Engineers. Then he proceeded to explain:
I. The three Systems Engineering Challenges
- The corruption of the Engineering Design Process
A. Managing Complexity
Engineering specializations (i.e. Mechanical, Electrical, Software, etc.) have created tribes, with separate languages. Designs are now beyond what one individual can hold in their mind. And Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) have been putting out Designs by Committee with a diffusion of responsibility.
- The decrease use of Engineering Fundamentals
- The inadequacy of tools to handle “Systems of Systems”
B. Managing Risk
The goal is not to eliminate risk but to provide decision makers with adequate information to weigh the risks. We don’t want to be adverse to risk but more aware of the risk involved.
- Breadth
- Depth
- Leadership
C. Growing Future Engineering Leaders
II. The three Systems Engineering Opportunities
A. Better Tools
B. New Approaches to Engineering Education
C. Growing an Engineering Culture
Each point was well elucidated and gave the listeners much to ponder.
>>Download his presentation HERE<<
Afterwards Mr. Wilby answered a few questions and helped select the Door Prize which went to the Board Member -- George Anderson. Again randomness seems to favor our Board in winning these prizes.
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| The Board of Directors and Committee members gathered for a Photo Op as they basked in the glow of the 2010 Gold Circle award and the Most Improved Performance award from corporate INCOSE. |
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| This was a very successful meeting and enjoyed by all who attended. Please join us next month to be part of the Gold Circle awarded INCOSE Chapter. |
June 2011: After Action Report
Our June 2011 meeting started with our president, John Lewis, talking about how effective our programs have been this year -- including tonight's lecturer, Matthew Hause -- all because of the dedicated efforts of our Programs Director, Don York. John also encouraged everyone to come out to the July 20th meeting where we have the honor of hosting the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Engineering, Mr. Stephen P. Welby, discussing some challenges to the practice and profession of systems engineering within the Department of Defense (DoD).
Carol Hutchinson, the chairman of the Evaluation Committee for the chapter's Systems Engineer of the Year (SEY), announced that the committee is accepting nominations for the SEY. Read about the criteria, due dates, download the nomination forms and the application itself at the chapter's SEY webpage >>HERE<<.
Systems Engineering & the Unified Profile for DoDAF and MODAF (UPDM)
We all moved to the auditorium where Matthew Hause started his talk. He explained how all models are meant to answer questions but the challenge is the "abstraction problem." DoD, as well as the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD), wanted to move away from "PowerPoint" architecture and wanted to start using models with real data behind the "pretty pictures." Looking to INCOSE and the Object Management Group (OMG) to help solve this problem, an initiative was started to provide a consistent, standardized means to describe architectures in SysML/UML-based tools as well as a standard for interchange. Thus the concept for a Unified Profile for DoDAF and MODAF, or UPDM, was born. Mr. Hause went on to explain the details of UPDM such as parametrics, blocks, complex ports, enhanced activity modeling, and cross-cutting constructs. He also went into a detail example of a Yacht in Distress.
Download his presentation
>> HERE<<
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| At the end of the lecture, Erik DeVito, a member of the Programs Committee, thanked Mr. Hause with a 4GB thumb drive and then helped with the raffling of a door prize, Modeling Enterprise Architectures by Jon Holt and Simon Perr. Only to find out he had the winning ticket!. Randomness can be quite surprising at times. |
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| The evening was filled with conversations over the delightful meal, and an informative and meaningful lecture. Another successful meeting can be added to our chapter's history archive. |
May 2011: After Action Report
Lessons in Cloud Philosophy
On May 18th 2011 the INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter abandoned our normal JHU/APL tradition and accepted an invitation to one of our sponsors to hold our meeting at their facilities. CyberCore Technologies, graciously provided office/warehouse space as well as catered the event with appetizers and food. Chris Mills, President of CyberCore Technologies welcomed everyone. The attendance was more than double our normal number with over 80 friends, family and colleagues joining us to hear one of the premier experts in Cloud Computing discuss the challenges facing the Information Technology community with advent of this new paradigm.
Harry J. Foxwell, Ph.D.; Principal Consultant; Oracle Corp, is a self proclaimed Cloud Philosopher. He explained why he titled his lecture “Internet Weather Report: Increasing Cloudiness, Chance of Storms.” The Cloud is inevitable, however trouble will come as well, as we struggle to define and implement the framework. It’s almost like going back to the 1950’s Mainframe concept however this time around NIST is leading the way in defining Cloud Computing as well setting standards but it’s still in its infancy. NIST is trying to explain Who is in Control and Who can see What, all within a provider/customer relationship. This leads to an acronym soup-du-jour surrounding the Cloud -- SaaS, PaaS, IaaS -- all based on Services. Even as this ground work is being laid the specter of Security is a driving concern. As hard as these challenges are to address, the Cloud phenomena cannot be stopped. The energy savings benefit alone makes this a worthy endeavor. The Government is insisting on its use through their IT contracts. Customers can start using Cloud services today, available through a plethora of companies. Standards still need to be set, Security needs to be strengthened and a faster Internet must be built, but the Cloud is here to stay.
>> Want to see what else Harry Foxwell had to share? Then download the slides HERE<<
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| Our meeting at CyberCore Technologies was a rousing success. More then 80 attendees enjoyed good food and drink and a great lecture. We want to thank Chris Mills, President of CyberCore Technologies for this great opportunity. |
April 2011: After Action Report
Defending Software Applications from Threats
Dr. Spraycar’s lecture was more focused on the software side of Systems Engineering and the vulnerabilities of software applications. As Systems Engineers we are all familiar with the three legs of Program Management … cost, schedule and quality (or performance)... but we need to think about adding a fourth leg … Security. And just like Quality Assurance (QA), we find Security is usually given very little attention by program management. And just like QA, we need to start thinking about “Building In” Security from the beginning, not just inspecting for compliance later.
When it comes to using the Internet it’s good to keep in mind, “Nobody’s safe” as so eloquently put by Dr. Spraycar. He even showed a very revealing survival time line for various operating systems as they are placed onto the Internet and the time it takes for them to come under attack. A Windows machine takes less then 2 hours. (See SANS Internet Storm Center)
Dr. Spraycar went into -- aspects of Application Code Analysis to reduce operational risk -- showed the top 25 most dangerous errors leading to vulnerabilities -- and the concern of “Technology Debt”.
>>Want to know more then download the slides HERE<<
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| Dr. Spraycar receives a prestigious Chapter coin from our Programs Director, Don York.. |
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| Another successful meeting with over 40 attendees. People ate, mingled, networked and learned. Some even winning door prizes. Join us next month for another exciting meeting. Don’t miss out.. |
March 2011: After Action Report
Panel: Understanding the INCOSE SE Professional Certification Program
The meeting started with Paul Martin giving an overview of INCOSE’s Systems Engineering Certification program. He only got as far as explaining the various Multi-Level Certifications offered by INCOSE before Don York, Programs Director, intervened in order to provide time for the panel members to explain their experience with INCOSE Certifications. Dave Alldredge, CSEP, and Ken Zemrowski, CSEP, both review INCOSE Certification applications. They provided tips on creating an application to help the reviewers. Mike Berendt, ASEP, actually isn’t a Systems Engineer but an Executive level Program Manager. He took the Certification exam to show with the right preparation of class time and studying will get you through. He feels once these SE Certifications take off, in the same way the PMI Program Management Certifications have, then having a SE certification will be a real individual discriminator for a person’s career. Dave Fadeley, ESEP, explained what he did to obtain the Expert Systems Engineer designation. Steve Sutton, CSEP, explained how his Certification differs from his Professional Engineer license. The entire panel had great information to share and the audience of almost 50 was very appreciative of the material.
Although Paul didn’t finish his presentation you can still see what he would have shown, such as how to prepare for the Exam, by
>>Downloading his presentation HERE<<
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| The Panelist included: Dave Alldredge,CSEP; Mike Berendt, ASEP; Dave Fadeley, ESEP; Steve Sutton,CSEP; and Ken Zemrowski, CSEP.. |
This meeting really emphasized the importance of getting an INCOSE Systems Engineering Certification, be it an ASEP, CSEP or ESEP. So check out the INCOSE website on the Certification details and check out the Chesapeake Chapter website Education page for information on Certification exam preparation classes in the area.
- David Biddinger, KaRDS Cyber Solutions, LLC
- John L. Bielat, SAIC
- Erik R. Devito, Serco-NA, Inc.
- Bernard F. Dittman, Northrop Grumman
- Chery L. Garrison, Northrop Grumman
- Lance W. Harvey, Tech Team Government
- Kari J. Lippert, DoD
- Paul B. Martin, Serco-NA, Inc.
- Robert D. Middleton, DTI Associates, Inc.
- Thomas Rosencranz, Advantage Engineering
- Rich Schramke, Northrop Grumman
- Stephen J. Sutton, TASC, Inc.
- Viyaya L. Venatesh, Independent Consultant
- Loren M. Walker, Booz Allen Hamilton
- Donald M. York, TASC, Inc
1 March 2011 SE Seminar
Gundars @ Goddard!
On Tuesday, March 1st 2011, The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center held their monthly Systems Engineering Seminar. The speaker was INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter’s very own President-Elect and Senior Principal Enterprise Architect at Northrop Grumman, Gundars Osvald. President-Elect Osvalds gave his lecture on Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) to a robust audience of nearly 60 people.
Mr. Osvalds started by noting the advantages of using MBSE. It provides an efficient methodology to capture, allocate, trace and verify requirements. He furthered that the use of integrated diagramming helped to provide a cohesive view of the architecture, as well as test plans and flows into and out of interfaces and specifications. He described SysML as an extension to UML to provide a modeling capability for the Systems Engineers to create static and dynamic models of the systems architecture.
Another defining characteristic of SysML is that it can be grouped into four functional areas; Requirements, Structure, Behavior, and Parametrics. Gundars went on to talk about Black Box: Conceptual Model and the White Box: Logical and Visualization (a Northrop Grumman concept) Models. Using these models the SysML can also provide requirements traceability and Use Cases in order to provide context to the system being designed. At the end he showed a visualization video of the program he was working. Following the video he fielded a handful of questions. To close out the seminar, Mr. Edward Amatucci presented Gundars with a Certificate of Appreciation for taking the time to share his knowledge of Model Based Systems Engineering with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center audience.
Gundars Osvald presentation to GSFC.
>>Abstract and Bio | Poster (jpg) (pdf) <<
Visit the GSFC SE Seminar Homepage for future Systems Engineering events.
16 February 2011 Dinner Meeting
Febuary 2011: After Action Report
After another wonderful meal at JHU/APL -- this one consisting of wild rice with Chicken Marsala -- our meeting started with our Communications Director, Paul Martin, giving a quick review of the chapter’s website and how to get information on the INCOSE's Systems Engineering Certification Program in preparation for next month’s CSEP focused meeting. Also John Lewis introduced one of our members, Darryl A. Gomez, Ph.D., who was just awarded the 2011 District of Columbia Council of Engineering and Architectural Societies (DCCEAS) Engineer of the Year award. Congratulations Dr. Gomez.
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| Also our very own past president George Anderson received his Past President pin from INCOSE International representative, Jim Armstrong.. |
Lecture: Status of Model Based Systems Engineering
In light of tonight’s topic, Jim Chism announced that he will be teaching a 1 credit course for UMBC on model-based systems engineering. We then got to hear Mark Walker give us an overview of two days’ worth of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) presentations from the latest INCOSE International Workshop. Mark covered the four MBSE Essentials: 1. Methods (such as OOSEM); 2. Language Specifications (such as SysML); 3. Tools (such as Magic Draw) and 4. Training. He then proceeded to identify key perspectives and status information and charts, etc. from these IW presentations including the status of the INCOSE MBSE Initiative and the Challenge Teams progress/achievements to date. A MBSE Wiki has been stood up as a publically-accessible portal for collecting the information and work products from these initiatives and teams. Mark also explained the Unified Profile for DoDAF and MODAF (UPDM) which, as the name implies, is a standardized way of expressing DoDAF 1.5 and MODAF 1.2 artifacts using UML and SysML. But it also entails other Military Architectural frameworks such as DNDAF, NAF, AGATE, etc.
Of course more information can be found in his presentation >>HERE<<
Also check out the INCOSE MBSE Workshop Wiki page >>HERE<< with all the presentations mentioned in Mark’s presentation and more.
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| Our special thanks to Mark Walker includes a handshake, a 4GB thumb drive and a Chapter Coin. . |
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| We had over 50 attendees to Mark’s lecture. This month the book A Practical Guide to SysML by Sanford Friedenthal was the door prize. Once again a wonderful time of food, comradeship, networking, and learning. Please join us next month. . |
19 January 2011 Dinner Meeting
January 2011: After Action Report
Our first meeting for 2011 started with a large crowd and a great meal of wonderfully spicy curry chicken and rice. The new President, John Lewis, did a quick review of the Chapter’s website and encouraged feedback into improving our communication.
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| John Lewis, our new President, presented several awards to individuals who missed the Holiday Awards Banquet. Mark Kaczmarek and Steve Biemer for their work in starting the Student Chapter. And Jim Peter for his untiring efforts as liaison to JHU/APL for which we are so grateful. |
The installation of the Board of Directors for this year occurred with the help of Jim Armstrong an INCOSE International representative. New Board members include John Lewis (President) , George Anderson (Past President), Gundars Osvalds (President-Elect), and Glenn Gillaspy (Treasurer). other Board member still serving in their two year terms are: Robert Berkovits (Secretary), Bhanumati Sunkara (Membership Director), Paul Martin (Communications Officer) and Don York (Programs Director).
Once promises and pledges were made by both the Board and the chapter members in attendance, we started the evening’s presentation.
Lecture: Engineering Clean Energy Systems
Dr. Pavlak started his talk on “How to Develop Clean Energy Systems” by asking who believed in Global Warming and who did not. Surprisingly, it was half and half. And even though this is a controversial topic it turns out it really doesn’t matter when it comes to the need for a strategic solution for developing clean energy systems. No matter what camp people are in there is universal agreement that a better United States Energy Policy is needed. However there is difficulty in separating the technology from the politics. A national will must be present in order to succeed. After all it took France 40 years to build a grid that is 80% nuclear and surely the United States could do the same. All it needs is a national commitment.
Dr. Pavlak went on to show some analyze on several alternatives/solutions. Nuclear, Geothermal and Wind Scenarios where explored. He explained the notion that “we don’t need a system integrator, the markets will do it” is nonsense. The Governance Model required the architect to be President Obama, the Technical Integrator to be DOE and the Client to be Congress.
Check it out by downloading the presentation slides 
here.
A very thought provoking lecture as evident by the many meaningful and significant questions asked afterwards. The door prizes included the book Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future by Robert Bryce and a Baltimore Raven’s travel bag.
Don York, Programs Director, presents Dr. Pavlak a small token of thanks, a 2GB thumb drive, for providing such an educational evening.
With such a great start for 2011 it looks to be another great year for the INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter. Please join us next month.