Education and research in systems engineering is growing within academia as evidenced by an increased number of degrees awarded in the field and increased research funding. Much of this growth has focused on capturing the state of the practice, identifying best practices, and training future practitioners in best practices that have been successfully employed to engineer a previous generation of systems. Today’s systems are increasingly more complex, diverse, and interconnected than their predecessors. Education and research in the fundamentals of the science of systems that provide normative frameworks and prescriptive methods and advance the state of the practice are essential to address the challenges presented by next-generation systems.  This talk will describe fundamental concepts for system and systems thinking that distinguish the science of systems from other sciences, and it will present a vision for education and engagement in systems at Purdue that advances learning, discovery, and engagement at the local, national, and international level.

Dr. Kenley has degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SB, Sloan School of Management), Purdue (MS, Statistics), and Stanford (MS and PhD, Engineering-Economic Systems) and over thirty years’ experience in industry, academia, and government as a practitioner, consultant, and researcher in systems engineering.

His previous experience has included assignments with Lockheed Missiles and Space, the Idaho National Laboratory, and the MIT Lean Advancement Initiative.. He has been actively involved in the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), which is a dedicated to advancing the state of the art and practice in systems engineering, and he has served in numerous leadership roles with INCOSE, including Secretary of the Council.