Purdue Student Earns Boehm Award at SERC Doctoral Student Forum

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An Impressive Presentation on Systems-of-Systems

[/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]During the 2023 SERC Doctoral Student Forum (SDSF), Ms. Sonali Sinha Roy of Purdue University presented on risk assessment frameworks and earned the Dr. Barry Boehm Award for Doctoral Student Research Excellence.

Roy is a doctoral candidate at Purdue’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a graduate research assistant at the university’s Center for Integrated Systems in Aerospace. She earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering at SRM University in Chennai, India. Her research interests include space mission engineering, system-of-systems engineering, system safety and risk assessment, mission assurance, and model-based systems engineering.

Roy titled her presentation as “A State-Based Probabilistic Risk Assessment Framework for System-of-Systems Operations.” In the abstract, she stated that systems-of-systems (SoS) can be complex due to the number of constituents involved. “The individual failure modes of the constituent systems coupled with the interdependencies among them can result in a vast variety of risks that may affect the operations of the SoS in unpredictable ways,” Roy wrote.

Roy argued that traditional risk assessment techniques for SoS applications are often inadequate because they do not consider the interactions between systems or the progressive consequences of total or partial disruptions. She proposes a state-based framework for probabilistic risk assessment. “By defining SoS-level performance metrics and observing their variation with system-level parameters, the impact of each system’s operations and failure modes on the larger SoS can be assessed,” Roy wrote. “Overall, this framework can provide deeper and richer insights by enabling sensitivity analysis, risk quantification/ranking, and comparison of various operational concepts, thereby generating a holistic risk profile of the SoS operations.”

Roy was happy to have earned recognition during the SDSF. “It was a privilege to be able to present my work to so many knowledgeable peers and distinguished experts in the field of systems engineering,” she said. “All the student presentations were very informative and innovative, so I am honored that my work was recognized through the Boehm Award. I am grateful for the support I received from my advisor and colleagues and touched by the appreciation shown by my co-presenters at SDSF.”

Roy’s doctoral advisor, SERC Chief Scientist Dan DeLaurentis, was pleased at her success. “Sonali has a degree of intensity and passion for understanding a problem deeply that is rare among the students I have worked with,” DeLaurentis said. “Combined with her creativity, she has a powerful combination of capabilities and I foresee great impact she will make on the community in the future.”

Follow SERC on LinkedIn for regular updates on systems engineering research.[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”19294″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/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).

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