Midwest Gateway Chapter

Welcome to the Midwest Gateway Chapter

Welcome to the Midwest Gateway Chapter of INCOSE. We are based in the St Louis region, from Rolla to the Metro East. The Midwest Gateway Chapter of INCOSE was founded in St. Louis in 1992. Over the years we've hosted the INCOSE Symposium and the Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER), and been the home chapter of national and regional INCOSE leaders.

Bronze Chapter Award 2004
2004
Bronze Chapter Award 2004
2005
Bronze Chapter Award 2004
2020
Bronze Chapter Award 2004
2021
Bronze Chapter Award 2004
2022
Bronze Chapter Award 2004
2023
Silver Chapter Award 2006
2006
Silver Chapter Award 2007
2007
Silver Chapter Award 2008
2008
Silver Chapter Award 2009
2009
Silver Chapter Award 2010
2010
Silver Chapter Award 2011
2011

2025 Board of Directors

President: Mike McCarthy, Paragon Technology Group
President-Elect (Vice President): George Sconyers III, Boeing
Secretary (2025/2026): Emily Orwaru, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Treasurer (2024/2025): Lou Pape
Director (2024/2025): Dr. Mary Malast, Leonardo DRS
Director (2024/2025): Chris Smith, Boeing
Director (2025/2026): John Thompson
Director (2025/2026): Geo Sconyers
Past President: Mike Franco

Contact the MGC Board of Directors at [email protected].


Upcoming Chapter Events

Speaker Event

When:  Thursday, Mar 13, 2025

Where:  Sports Cafe, 3579 Pennridge Dr, Bridgeton, MO, 63044

Who:  TBD

Orlando Chapter Meeting - UCF's Online Master's Programs: Advancing the Development and Execution of Engineering Systems Used Globally

This meeting will be a virtual event using the Zoom platform. Please see below for connection details.

Membership:
You are invited to become a member of INCOSE (go to https://www.incose.org/about-incose/incose-membership/incose-membership) but the meeting is open to all; you do not need to be an INCOSE member to attend.

Cost: 
None.

Speakers: 
Dr. Walker Hammond
Dr. Christina Bouwens

Presentation Abstract
This presentation will describe the new MS in Systems Engineering (MSSE) program at UCF which starts this fall. This online program prepares busy working engineers and graduate students for rewarding careers in tomorrow's global systems engineering workforce. It aligns well with INCOSE's Systems Engineering Vision 2025 to broaden the base of systems engineering practitioners in a global context. UCF's diverse SE programs produce graduates who can work in any environment- manufacturing, service, healthcare, government, and other industries. The MSSE program is designed to produce highly skilled professionals and researchers with broad knowledge of industrial engineering and in-depth knowledge of specialty fields for careers in academia, industry, and government. The presentation describes the 30 credit hour MSSE curriculum of four core courses, three concentration courses, and three elective courses in (1) simulation, optimization and modeling, (2) management systems, (3) quality and production systems, and (4) human system integration. Goal-focused teamwork is instilled through a variety of student-led projects. Independent learning is emphasized by successful completion of the research studies required in individual courses. These research studies require that students integrate material from all the courses in their program. The Systems Integration and Testing class in the core sequence builds upon prior classes and requires independent research to describe, architect, model, and ultimately integrate and test complex products and services.    

In 2020, Industrial Engineering at UCF is ranked No. 41 nation-wide according to US News & World Report. UCF is ranked second in industrial, manufacturing and systems engineering graduate colleges in the State of Florida. The program in the IEMS Department remains in the top 50 graduate engineering schools for industrial, manufacturing, and systems engineering in the nation and is the highest ranked program in the College of Engineering at UCF. The IEMS Department is home to successful graduate programs: MS, MSIE and PhD in Industrial Engineering, MS in Systems Engineering, MS in Healthcare Systems Engineering, and Professional Engineering Management Program which offers Certificate Programs in Systems Engineering, Applied Operations Research, Project Engineering, Quality Assurance, and Training Simulation.

Dr. Walter Hammond works at UCF as Adjunct Faculty for the Departments of Industrial Engineering & Management Systems and Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. Before joining UCF, Dr. Hammond worked as a System Analysis and Integration Engineer for the Missile Defense Agency, Ground-based Midcourse Defense in Huntsville, Alabama. Prior to that, Dr. Hammond worked as a Senior Systems Engineer for space transportation systems at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Over the past 40+ years he has worked for the U.S. Air Force and major aerospace contractors in systems engineering and integration of aerospace and defense systems, systems analysis and trade studies, formulation of system requirements, verification, and validation. Areas of expertise include planning and executing complex projects, product definition and development, project and program requirements definition, verification planning and execution, process improvement, problem solving, optimal balancing among conflicting requirements for performance, cost, reliability, and risk. Dr. Hammond has expertise in building high performance work teams, and leading teams to deliver exceptional customer service. He has a Ph.D. in Industrial & Systems Engineering from Texas A&M University, an MBA from TAMU, and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas. 

Dr. Christina Bouwens works for MAK Technologies as the Chief Systems Engineer for the U.S. Army's Synthetic Training Environment (STE) Common Software Environment (CSE) program.  Before joining MAK, Dr. Bouwens was a Research Assistant Professor and the Scientific Director of the Complex Adaptive Systems Laboratory in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at UCF.  Over the years, she has taught Systems Engineering and Systems Architecting courses for UCF and corporate Program Management courses at Leidos. Dr. Bouwens has been a part of the modeling and simulation industry for over 30 years as a simulation systems engineer, research scientist, program manager and engineering consultant.  She has a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering (Systems Operations and Modeling) and an M.S. in Mathematical Science, both from the University of Central Florida (UCF ).  Her B.S. in Mathematics is from Geneva College.

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88479301379?pwd=UjNpV0N6SVE5ZDV1eGR1WUxReFFMUT09

 

Meeting ID: 884 7930 1379
Passcode: 383166

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Meeting ID: 884 7930 1379
Passcode: 383166

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcLCuktUjz

 

Chapter Newsletters


Chapter News

New Chapter Members - 2025

Irwandi Kardjana, Boeing, Jan 5
Robert Reinke, Intelligent Information Technologies, Jan 15

New Chapter Members - 2024

Matthew Trainor, Leonardo DRS, Jan 9
Bradley Jones, Jan 11
Ethan Bandick, Leonardo DRS, Feb 27
Alexander Hawkes, Mar 21
Aditya Akundi, UWM, May 3
Madelynn Frappier, Leonardo DRS, May 21
Hector Castelblanco, May 29
Kaylee Catlett, Jun 2
William Conrady, Boeing, Jun 2
Prithbey Dey, Jun 3
Ezechiel Ouedraogo, Jun 17
Braxton Schmedeke, Jun 19
Haley Spillars, Jun 19
George Sconyers, Boeing, Jul 3
Serge Krawczyk, Boeing, Jul 11
Seth Copeland, V2X, Jul 17
Thomas Vanhooser, Jul 24
Wade Wilson, Boeing, Jul 29
Tyson Prosser, Boeing, Aug 9
Amanda Baker, Cummins, Aug 13
Jared Blatsioris, Purdue University, Aug 20
Tracey Feldhake, Sep 4
Xorge Hernandez, Sep 5
Miguel Delgado, Peraton, Sep 9
Michael Malast, Boeing, Sep 10
Kyle Edwards, UL, Sep 12
Andrea Foutch, Sep 13
Reginald Robinson, Boeing, Oct 4
Wesley Freeman, Leidos, Oct 24
Geo Sconyers, Nov 7
Matthew Hollander, DRS Land Systems, Dec 5
Paul Mizwicki, Aclara, Dec 5
Jacob Kramer, Leonard DRS, Dec 11
Daniel Chikwendu, Wichita State University, Dec 21

The Midwest Gateway Chapter of INCOSE was founded in St. Louis in 1992. Over the years we've hosted the INCOSE Symposium and the Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER), and been the home chapter of national and regional INCOSE leaders. Many of our members are engaged in defense, biotech, connected devices, and academia. Most members are located in St. Louis and the surrounding area (from Missouri S&T in Rolla to Scott Air Force Base in the Metro East), but all are welcome to affiliate with us.

For more information about joining INCOSE, please visit the incose.org website: Join INCOSE. If you're not sure about joining yet, come out and visit us at one of our events.

Connect

If you have any questions for us, get in touch: [email protected]. You can also get in touch with our Board of Directors.

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