SERC Researcher Shepherd Receives NDIA Chinn Award
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Service in a Career of Science and Engineering
[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]SERC researcher Captain (Ret.) William M. Shepherd received the 2023 Chinn Award from the National Defense Industrial Association at their annual Future Force Capabilities Conference in Huntsville, Alabama.
The Chinn Award is presented annually to a government or industry individual who, in the opinion of the Small Arms Committee Executive Board, has made significant contributions to the field of small arms and/or infantry weapons systems that advances U.S. military capability. The Chinn Award may also be conferred to recognize an individual who has performed sustained superior service in a career field of science, engineering, test and evaluation, manufacturing program management, academic study and research, publishing or maintenance relating to military small arms or infantry weapons.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image source=”external_link” external_img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” custom_src=”https://sercproddata.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/ProfileImages/1523987736.jpg” caption=”Captain (Ret.) William M. Shepherd, Stevens Institute of Technology” link=”https://sercuarc.org/researcher/?id=85&researcher=William-Shepherd”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Captain Shepherd is a retired Navy SEAL and NASA astronaut with a distinguished career that includes serving as a platoon commander and operations officer in SEAL teams on both coasts, a mission specialist on three space flights, as program manager for the International Space Station in 1993, and as commander of Expedition-1 onboard the new space station in 2000. He has served on the SERC Advisory Board since 2014 and has contributed extensive knowledge of technology used in the Navy and the Space Program.
In addition, Captain Shepherd co-manages the Capstone Marketplace (CM), a SERC initiative that annually matches university student teams with U.S. military units to explore innovative ways to address real-world challenges. Students form multidisciplinary teams and work collaboratively on academic year projects proposed by DoD units.
“I have had the pleasure and honor of working with Bill Shepherd for several years as part of the Capstone Marketplace,” said colleague Michael DeLorme. “The students are tasked with developing engineering solutions to these projects. To observe Bill Shepherd as he guides these students to understand the problems and develop real and practical solutions is a gift for anyone involved in engineering education. He brings together a mix of technical knowledge, skill, experience, humility, and most critically engineering curiosity that encourages that same curiosity in the students and enables them to bring their engineering knowledge to bear on these challenges.”
Follow SERC on LinkedIn for regular updates on systems engineering research.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column][vc_column_text]SERC Executive Director Dr. Dinesh Verma, who was named an INCOSE Fellow in 2002, reflected on the significance of INCOSE recognizing McDermott. “INCOSE is a leading connector of the systems engineering community,” Verma said. “Their naming of Tom as a Fellow recognizes his broad and longstanding contributions to systems engineering, including through his extensive professional roles, prolific research, numerous papers and conference presentations, and capability to advance thought within the community, particularly on systems engineering modernization.”
McDermott graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with a B.S. in physics and an M.S. in electrical engineering. He spent 18 years with Lockheed Martin, including as chief engineer and program manager for the F-22 Raptor Avionics Team. He filled several roles in research, teaching, and senior leadership at the Georgia Tech Research Institute from 2002 to 2018. During his tenure, GTRI research awards doubled to more than $300 million, faculty research positions increased by 60%, and the organization was recognized as one of Atlanta’s best places to work. He also helped design Georgia Tech’s graduate program in applied systems engineering.
McDermott joined the SERC in 2018, and his research has explored systems engineering, systems thinking, organizational dynamics, and the nature of complex human socio-technical systems. He has taught system architecture concepts, systems thinking and decision making, and the composite skills required at the intersection of leadership and engineering. His current research activities focus on innovation models, strategic foresight techniques, system data analytics, and modeling and simulation of policy implications in current and future complex systems. His long-term research goal is to develop methods and tools that support better systems thinking in the management and engineering domains and enable more rapid development of system knowledge.
As CTO, McDermott guides the SERC research portfolio. His own recent research projects include “Transitioning Mission Aware Concepts and Methods to Evaluate Cost/Risk Decisions for Security,” “Application of Digital Engineering Measures,” “Program Managers Guide to Digital and Agile Systems Engineering Process Transformation,” and “Systems Engineering Modernization Policy, Practice, and Workforce Roadmaps.” He also takes a leading role in organizing and moderating the SERC Talks webinar series.
Several other SERC researchers have been named INCOSE Fellows since the award was established in 1998, including Dr. Barry Boehm (2000), Dr. Donna Rhodes (2002), Dr. Azad Madni (2005), Dr. Bill Rouse (2006), Dr. Art Pyster (2009), Dr. Jon Wade (2018), David Long (2019), and Dr. Dan DeLaurentis (2021).
Follow SERC on LinkedIn for regular updates on systems engineering research.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]