Vision for INCOSE

My vision for INCOSE continues to focus on improving the competitive advantage of our members in the global market place.

Continued ties between INCOSE and academia will ensure that education and training is relevant to the current needs in industry, and that academic research better anticipates and meets industry needs. INCOSE's efforts to date to host three levels of interchange among academics - deans, department heads, and faculty - are a major breakthrough that places us on that trajectory.

Our Corporate Advisory Board needs to expand its vision to not only have a desire to promote what is best for individual corporations and their industries, but they must also be promoters of the benefits of the trans-national and trans-industry nature of systems engineering. CAB representatives will have to help INCOSE obtain adequate resources to carry out its mission. This can take various forms such as: more corporate funding for member participation in INCOSE events and product development efforts; and establishing INCOSE as the lead organization with adequate budget and authority for cooperative international and national efforts that require substantial systems engineering expertise. This transition will have occurred when we see CAB companies competing to support systems engineers employed by their organization to represent INCOSE on these community endeavors.

INCOSE needs to expand its interaction with governments worldwide to establish the contacts and levels of trust to attract national resources that provide for education, training, and research in systems engineering that will advance the state of the art. We will have to engage key players from national research funding agencies worldwide to increase research, training, and scholarship funding in systems engineering programs that are identified with INCOSE.

These efforts are all about growth of INCOSE and its members. As this occurs, we should expect our numbers to increase and our operating structures to evolve to maintain and enhance the value of membership as evidenced by stronger member engagement and identification with INCOSE, an increased percentage of the membership contributing to important efforts, continued internal recognition of member contributions, significant increases in external recognition of member contributions, and multiple opportunities for innovation and creativity.

Profile
Bob Kenley has been member of INCOSE since 1994. In 1999, he was appointed Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, and in 2006, he was installed as the Secretary of INCOSE. During his tenure as Ways and Means Chair, he advised the Board on the necessary bylaws and policy changes to meet the needs of INCOSE as it has matured as an organization. As Secretary, he has ensured that the organization has met its responsibilities to the membership by carrying out his duties, which include organizing board meeting agendas, publishing board meeting minutes, responding to letters, and validating member rosters for elections. He also has been serving as chair pro tempore for board meetings.

He also is serving as the treasurer of the INCOSE Foundation, a charitable organization with the goal of advancing the development and image of systems engineering through funded scholarships, research, and international forums.

He presented his first INCOSE paper at the 1994 Symposium and has attended all Symposia since 1998. He has authored or co-authored papers published in INCOSE International Symposia proceedings, the Conference on Systems Engineering Research proceedings, and Systems Engineering.

He currently is Chief Editor of INSIGHT, a quarterly publication of INCOSE.

He is an independent systems engineering consultant for advanced technology development efforts sponsored by the U.S. Departments of Defense and Energy. He was employed as a systems engineer by Lockheed Martin from 1981 to 1998, working on space and nuclear systems. His assignments were in Sunnyvale, California, and in Washington, D.C. as a systems engineering fellow of the Idaho National Laboratory on detail to Department of Energy headquarters.

Bob received an S.B. in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975, an M.S. in Statistics from Purdue University in 1979, an M.S. in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University in 1984, and a Ph.D. in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University in 1986. His doctoral dissertation, "Influence Diagram Models with Continuous Variables" was one of the seminal works in the field that is now known as Bayes Nets.

A complete CV is posted at http://www.kenley.org.

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INCOSE
I joined INCOSE in 2005. My first INCOSE position, 2005, was co-chair of the newly formed Commercial Steering Board, which role is to advise and support INCOSE’s Board of Directors on initiatives to reach out to the commercial systems communities. As a first task the CSB developed a strategy and specific implementation plans designed to help INCOSE achieve a more representative mix of commercial industry in INCOSE’s membership, products and services. This strategy now is being integrated in an update of INCOSE's strategy. The CSB is involved in major decisions and actions pertaining to the commercial community; and review progress of the commercial outreach initiative implementation with the BoD.

The CSB reviews, supports or develops actions pertaining to INCOSE’s projects, and will assist in developing priorities in the generation or adjustment of how INCOSE can better meet the needs of the commercial communities. It further works closely with the Corporate Advisory Board, Member Board, and Technical Operations Team in defining, executing and maintaining INCOSE’s commercial outreach implementation plan. Since IW07 I chair the CSB, amd this was followed by the appointment by the BoD as Director for Commercial Outreach at IS07.

Professional Career
2003-now:  SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research Manager Engineering Division, member of the Management Team and Programme Manager Technology Transfer & Valorization. SRON is a leading institute e.g. in sensor research. The Engineering Division develops and supplies high tech electronics, inclusive ASIC development, and cryogenic structural designs for state-of- the-art sensor systems. The role in tech transfer brings me into contact frequently with industry, ranging from multi-nationals, high tech OEM's and numerous SME's (small and medium sized enterprises).

1993 - 2002 Grasso Products, the Netherlands:   Manager Research and Development, Grasso, the Netherlands; world leading OEM of reciprocating compressors, compressor units and chillers for the commercial and industrial refrigeration market. Key issues have been outsourcing to and co-development with European and US suppliers and high tech product development with European universities and research institutes.

1987-1993 Volvo Car and NedCar, the Netherlands:   Project Manager engine and motor management system development. Manager Engine Development and Manager Adaptive Engineering, i.e. development and system design of engine, gearbox, suspension, brake systems, intake/exhaust systems. Numerous system co-development projects with large European suppliers.

1976-1987 NLR National Aerospace Laboratory, the Netherlands:   Project Manager fatigue life extension programmes and materials research (aircraft, wind turbines). Project Manager in international projects (Europe, US).

MSc Technical University Delft, 1976, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, subject: metal forming

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Vision for INCOSE

The value of the Member Board and the regional representatives is to assure that the individual members and their local chapters are well served. This function provides both the voice of the members to the INCOSE leadership and a source of information about the organization, its products and services, and its value to the members. Continued improvement in the communications between members and leadership and among chapters is essential to improving the value of INCOSE to the members. This communications can be aided by improvements in the overall integration of the various stovepipes within the organization – a curiously systems engineering oriented concept which will also provide increased value to the members. Also, as INCOSE continues to move farther into the international arena, the leadership is appropriately taking a more global view, increasing the need for an active and knowledgeable representative. I will use my knowledge of the various elements of INCOSE and experience at the local level to provide the members in Region V increased value.

Profile
Mr. Armstrong is an Industry Professor of systems engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology with over 40 years experience in systems engineer and program management. Roles include systems engineer, test engineer, systems safety, configuration management, and program manager. Application domain spans satellites, air traffic control systems, communications, airborne telemetry, and shipborne imaging radar. Recently, he has been consulting and teaching systems engineering for commercial and government organizations. He has participated in the development of most systems engineering standards and models.

Mr. Armstrong has been active in INCOSE at local and international levels for 16 years. He has served in various roles in the technical community, as Chair of the Member Board, member of the Board of Directors, and CAB representative. He has also been President and Director of the WMA chapter, and is a frequent presenter at the International Symposia.

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Vision for INCOSE
My vision as Region V Member Board representative is to further INCOSE goals to transition to a global economy and future, and support INCOSE initiatives to formalize and standardize systems engineering practices to support acquisition, requirements elicitation, component alternative evaluation, system definition, and system deployment by holistically focusing upon system form, fit, and function.

To serve the Region V members effectively, I will strive to respond impartially to all chapter and member issues and elevate concerns to the national level where beneficial. Working closely with chapter leaders, I believe that we can enhance networking among chapters across the region to improve the quality and quantity of systems engineering information exchanges. I will take my position to resolve member issues and provide beneficial solutions across the region seriously, and I will help find the expertise necessary to resolve issues not easily dispatched.

To achieve this vision and promote INCOSE strategic growth, I will take steps necessary to resolve member issues and enhance systems engineering discipline and awareness in the region technical community-at-large, including my long-term experience in chapter officer roles and working with customers around the globe in 37 years of military and professional experience.

If elected, I will do my best to meet expectations of the position, to contribute ideas for future improvement, to support and expand INCOSE initiatives, and to serve the membership by working closely with other member representatives, local chapter officers, and INCOSE headquarters staff.

Profile
Bob Robinson is an IEEE Senior Member, Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP), and Boeing Associate Technical Fellow in embedded software systems. He currently works with the IDS Advanced Network and Space Systems (ANSS) group in Huntsville, Alabama, primarily supporting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security programs and leads systems engineering activities for Boeing’s implementation of Saudi Aramco tank storage and pipeline security. Bob led SPACEHAB program software engineering for 13 years, where he tailored program policies and procedures to assure conformance to SEI capability maturity model process discipline guidelines. He worked as systems and software engineer on the Carnegie Mellon Red Team for DARPA Grand Challenge desert races, and subsequently worked systems engineering for unmanned vehicles in urban combat scenarios, as well as software defined radios for U.S. Army and Air Force customers.

Bob has served in a series of software, hardware, and systems engineering roles over the past 25 years in homeland security, unmanned vehicle systems, commercial space carriers, military ballistic defense, commercial nuclear safety programs, and the Riyadh, Saudi Arabia airport. After 6 years active Navy duty in the early 70s, Bob completed multiple degrees at Louisiana Tech, then worked for Avco Electronics, SAIC, Unisys, and GTE in Huntsville before arriving at McDonnell Douglas in 1991, merging with The Boeing Company in 1997.

Bob earned a Masters in Systems Architecting and Engineering from University of Southern California in 2004 (Software Engineering specialization track), Bachelors in Mathematics/Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Louisiana Tech (1980), and completed Masters in Electrical Engineering coursework at Louisiana Tech (1981). Bob is active in twenty IEEE Standards Association committees/working groups, the SAE AS-4 Unmanned Systems standards committee, and he serves on IEEE, INCOSE, and AUVSI manuscript review teams, and reviews abstracts/manuscripts on Boeing internal conference committees.

Demonstrating his innovative initiative, Bob created a web-based CMMI Process Improvement discussion group on a weekend between a two-week NASA JSC Joint Integrated Simulation session, where he solicited target subject matter expertise from the SEI and worldwide consultants. Bob still moderates the group’s interactions, and the group has grown to 5000 members, serving as the world’s largest open process improvement discussion forum, with members from every continent worldwide, and has been multiply cited by the SEI as a tool for organizational process improvement.

Locally, Bob manages the IEEE, INCOSE, and AUVSI websites, and serves on several area technical conference planning committees annually. Bob is the 2008 Huntsville Association of Technical Societies (HATS) IEEE Professional of the Year, and works with area youth to promote excellence in science and technology pursuits in Science and Engineering Fairs, Future Cities Competitions, and other technology based events for middle school, high school, and university students. Since 2003, Bob has served as INCOSE Huntsville Chapter member chair, communications chair, and program publicist, along with his webmaster duties.

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