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

INCOSE/GfSE Webinar 11: Leveraging decision patterns to tame complexity and accelerate solution delivery

Click to download GfSE INCOSE Webinar 11 Invitation!

Meeting Title: Leveraging decision patterns to tame complexity and accelerate solution delivery
Presenter Name: John Fitch
Date: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
Time EDT: 11:00 am- 12:00 pm EST (4:00 pm – 5:00 pm UTC; 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm CET) 
     
Abstract 

Decision-making is one of four fundamental human thinking (aka analysis) processes. Decisions comprise the essential thinking content, the integrative mechanism of any design process, and as such effect the transformation of a problem definition into a solution description.

The author’s 35 years of experience in teaching and facilitating decision-making and systems engineering has led to the conclusion that there is a pattern of decisions behind every strategy, solution design or life. A wide variety of decision patterns have been created and refined through use in 150+ projects across 40+ organizations.

This presentation summarizes the conceptual basis for decision patterns and how they were “discovered”, defines a decision-centric information model of the engineering process, explains key principles behind how decision patterns create value, shares how a pattern-based decision model fits into a broader engineering process and identifies a range of use cases in which decision patterns have been employed.

Using a decision-centric information model (metamodel) creates a much richer digital thread than is currently supported in formal systems engineering languages and MBSE tools.

The presentation will demonstrate a simple but powerful technique by which a project decision baseline may be established by reverse engineering stakeholder decisions against a decision pattern. The resulting decision model (aka Decision Breakdown Structure) may be used validate system requirements and to focus project efforts on the decisions that are most critical to project success.

 Take-Away Key Message
  • Decision patterns are a useful technique for managing the complexity and reducing the time-to-capability of engineered systems.
  • Decisions are the integrative mechanism of systems engineering and as such decision-to-everything traceability and associated viewpoints should be at the heart of any organization’s digital thread.
  • Proven decision patterns exist that may be used to quickly frame the scope of any project, validate system requirements, and provide a structure for organizing project work around the most critical choices.
  • Although there is limited “native” software tool support for a decision-centric approach to engineering, existing MBSE tools or desktop tools may be extended to deliver this capability.
 Register in advance for this webinar at: 

https://incose-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HmNdj3FtQ5SQ4nHfGoEBKA


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.

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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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