Publication

The 'Digital Readiness' webcast series is a collaboration between the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) and the System Engineering Research Center (SERC). Each webcast was headlined by various SERC researchers throughout our network of collaborators. This webcast was the the kick off to the entire 9-part webcast series, which were centered around the following three themes:

1. DIGITAL ENGINEERING
2. DATA ANALYTICS
3. AI &  MACHINE LEARNING
   

The DAU webcast "Digital Readiness: Age of Digital Engineering" presented by Dr. Jon Wade, led the Digital Engineering topic.

Webcast Abstract: The digital transformation is fundamentally changing the state of practice across a wide range of government agencies, industries and academia. As the DoD transitions to digital engineering, there is a need to develop and maintain an acquisition workforce and culture that is competent in digital engineering practices, tools, and outputs across the acquisition lifecycle. DoD defines digital engineering as an integrated digital approach that uses authoritative sources of system data and models as a continuum across disciplines to support lifecycle activities from concept through disposal. Digital engineering impacts how engineers perform their job functions, the tools required, the products delivered, and the interaction and sharing of data either locally or distributed. In order to succeed in digital engineering, deliberate efforts to develop new competencies for education and training of the DoD workforce must be implemented. This presentation describes digital engineering, its potential impact, the necessary methodological transition and the skill sets that will be essential for its support.