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Systems Engineering
INCOSE Fellows

I stopped maintaining this directory when INCOSE central took it over in 2004.

Systems Engineering is responsible for the big picture in the development and operation of complex systems. It must ensure that the system satisfies its requirements throughout the entire system life cycle: from cradle to grave. The International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) is one of the major Systems Engineering societies. It has identified systems engineers who have made significant and verifiable contributions to the art and practice of Systems Engineering and has elected the following as Fellows of INCOSE.

    Erik Aslaksen, Sinclair Knight Merz, for fundamental contributions to systems engineering knowledge through practice and education.

    Elliot Axelband, Hughes Aircraft Co., for definitive contributions to the management of systems engineering processes.

    Terry Bahill, University of Arizona, for helping to identify the systems engineering process and promoting systems engineering research and education.

    Ben Blanchard, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, for contributions in systems engineering from a life-cycle perspective with emphasis on reliability, maintainability, and life-cycle cost.

    Dennis Buede, industry and George Mason University, for contributions to decision analysis and modeling for the engineering design of systems.

    Barry Boehm, government, industry and academia, for contributions to the principles and practice of software systems engineering.

    Wolt Fabrycky, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, for contributions as a remarkable systems engineering scholar, author and teacher; and as a university administrator.

    George Friedman, Northrop Corp., for contributions toward the unification of systems engineering processes.

    Jeff Grady, industry, for contributions to professional education for industrial practitioners and for establishing the role of INCOSE as a teaching organization.

    Jerry Lake, industry and academia, for contributions to the rigor and standards for systems engineering processes.

    Yacov Haimes, University of Virginia, for contributions to systems engineering theory and practice in risk assessment and management.

    Rich Harwell, Lockheed Martin, for contributions in instituting and communicating applied knowledge of systems engineering in industry.

    Bill McCumber, (deceased) IBM and Lockheed Martin, for contributions as a quintessential industrial leader, especially in education and training of practicing systems engineers.

    Dorothy McKinney, Lockheed Martin, for contributions to software and systems engineering leadership, management and education.

    Bill Mackey, industry, for blending Systems Engineering with principles and practices of jurisprudence and business.

    Mark Maier, industry and academia, for advancing the state of the art in systems architecting.

    Brian Mar, (deceased) University of Washington, for influencing the development of systems engineering as a discipline and a profession and for educating engineers about systems.

    James Martin, Bell Labs and Raytheon Systems Company, for contributions as an author and a teacher, and for leadership in the development of process, methods, and tools.

    Dave Oliver, General Electric, for scholarly contributions to the theory, standards and practice of systems engineering based on models and objects.

    Eb Rechtin, (deceased April 2006) government, industry and academia, for technical direction and management of large systems engineering projects and for contributions to the field of systems architecting.

    Donna Rhodes, industry, for leadership in the practice and implementation of Systems Engineering with connections to research and education.

    Jack Ring, industry, for promoting and teaching systems engineering with innovative and provocative challenges based on extensive scholarship.

    Andy Sage, George Mason University, for seminal contributions as a systems engineering scholar, editor, author, and educator; and as a university administrator.

    Richard Stevens, Quality Systems and Software Limited, for advancement of the state of the art, practice and tools of systems engineering.

    Heinz Stoewer, industry and academia, for contributions to systems engineering design, planning and management especially as applied to space systems.

    John Velman, Hughes Space Communications Co., for leadership in the management and promotion of systems engineering processes.

    Dinesh Verma, industry and academia, for seamless creation and dissemination of Systems Engineering knowledge simultaneously through research, education, and practice.

    Stan Weiss, industry and academia, for systems engineering contributions within industry and government with innovative extension into academia.

    Wayne Wymore, University of Arizona, for pioneering systems engineering education and research on the theory of systems engineering.

Terry Bahill was the founding Chair of the INCOSE Fellows Selection Committee. This committee created a Letter of Support Form for potential INCOSE fellows. Instructions for nominating a fellow are in the Call For Fellows Nominations article, which has been published in the Summer issue of INSIGHT each year.

Systems Engineering is an interdisciplinary process that ensures that the customer's needs are satisfied throughout a system's entire life cycle. This process is comprised of the following seven functions.

    State the problem. Stating the problem is the most important systems engineering task. It entails identifying customers, understanding customer needs, establishing the need for change, discovering requirements and defining system functions.

    Investigate alternatives. Alternatives are investigated and evaluated based on performance, cost and risk.

    Model the system. Running models clarifies requirements, reveals bottlenecks and fragmented activities, reduces cost and exposes duplication of efforts.

    Integrate. Integration means designing interfaces and bringing system elements together so they work as a whole. This requires extensive communication and coordination.

    Launch the system. Launching the system means running the system and producing outputs -- making the system do what it was intended to do.

    Assess performance. Performance is assessed using figures of merit, technical performance measures and metrics -- measurement is the key. If you cannot measure it, you cannot control it. If you cannot control it, you cannot improve it.

    Re-evaluation. Re-evaluation should be a continual and iterative process with many parallel loops.

This process can be summarized with the acronym SIMILAR (Bahill and Gissing, 1998). The INCOSE Fellows have expanded this into a consensus describing Systems Engineering.

Here are the bylaws, of the INCOSE Fellows Selection Committee.

And this is a list of the members, of the INCOSE Fellows Selection Committee.

The Fellows' logo, shown in the upper left corner of this page, presents the theme of the system life cycle: it goes further than birth to death; it goes from research to recycle.

This site is owned by Terry Bahill (520) 621-6561. It was last changed on February 1, 2006.