Systems Engineering at GMU

Systems Engineering is concerned with the effective design, production, deployment, operation, maintenance, refinement, and retirement of reliable systems within cost and time constraints. Systems Engineering applies an appropriate combination of theories and tools, carried out through the use of a suitable methodology and a set of system management procedures, to address real world problems that are often of large scale and scope. Systems engineering activities vary from requirements definition or specification to the conceptual and functional development of systems. Our efforts are focused on architectural concerns, on behavioral factors as they affect the human-machine interaction and the design of decision support systems, on system performance and evaluation, and on systems management.

In dealing with the various phases of the system life cycle, the systems engineer's perspective is different from that of a product engineer or technology developer. Whereas the product engineer deals with details, the systems engineer takes a "top down" perspective dealing with details only as needed to guarantee successful implementation. Whereas the product engineer deals with system internals, the systems engineer also addresses the external view of the system through the system's interface to other systems, users, and managers. Our educational program reflects the systems engineer's unique perspective on the system life cycle.

GMU's educational and research program in Systems Engineering addresses a broad range of issues relevant to the design, implementation, analysis and management of systems. Concentration areas include Systems Engineering Analysis (SEA), Systems Management (SMG), Command, Control, Communications, Computing and Intelligence Systems (C4I), Systems Engineering of Software Intensive Systems (SIS), Architecture-Based Systems Integration (ABSI), Air Transportation Systems (ATS) and Financial Systems Engineering (FSE). Research activities include both fundamental and applied research. GMU's graduate program in Systems Engineering recognizes the importance of balancing an education in quantitative models and engineering tools with a proper understanding of the systems "perspective".