MIT Taps Private Partners for Online Systems Engineering Program
The Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) will
collaborate with Boeing and the National Aeronautics &
Space Administration (NASA) to launch a new online four-course program in architecture and
systems
engineering. The program will be conducted by MIT's Professional Education division via the edX platform, using the real-world
lessons and case studies of
Boeing and NASA professionals.
Students
in the four courses will cover the
latest practices in model-based systems engineering, including, for
instance,
how models can enhance system engineering functions and how systems
engineering
tasks can be enhanced with quantitative analysis.
At
the end of each course, titled "Architecture
and Systems Engineering: Models and Methods To Manage Complex Systems,"
students
will receive continuing education units and those who complete all four
courses
will receive a professional certificate from MIT.
The
courses are scheduled to launch this summer.
Bruce
Cameron, director of the System Architecture Lab at MIT, said the hope is that the program will ensure
that the
current engineering workforce has the necessary training and access to
up-to-date information to design and develop products in a rapidly
changing
environment.
"Engineering
practice is changing rapidly in
tandem with the growth of software," Cameron said, "driving incredible
capability changes, but also causing enormous challenges managing
complex
development programs."
He
said the program will frame system
architecture as a series of decisions that can be actively sorted and
managed.
The
online program is the first initiative
following the signing of a Space Act Agreement between Boeing and NASA
last
year to support education of a capable technology workforce.
"This
represents NASA's initial steps in the
realization of a digital transformation of learning and workforce
development,"
said Charlie Camarda, a space shuttle astronaut and senior advisor for
engineering development at NASA's Langley Research Center.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.