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Initiatives

DoD Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC)

Stevens Institute of Technology was awarded a five-year contract in 2008 under the authority of 10 USC 2304(c)(3)(B) by the Intelligence Community, in conjunction with the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology (DUSD(A&T)), to establish the DoD Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) at its Hoboken, New Jersey campus. DASD(SE) is not the primary sponsor of this DoD University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) which is focused on systems engineering research. The SERC was established to advance the practice of systems engineering within DoD by conducting innovative research into new SE methods, processes, and tools (MPTs) to address recurring problems in the acquisition of systems and services.

The SERC is responsible for systems engineering research that supports the development, integration, testing and sustainability of complex defense systems, enterprises and services. SERC will serve as the systems engineering research engine for the DoD and Intelligence Community (IC). Along with Stevens and the University of Southern California (USC) as its principal collaborator, researchers from 23 universities and research centers throughout the United States support the mission of SERC.

Dr. Dinesh Verma, Dean, Stevens School of Systems and Enterprises, serves as Executive Director with Dr. Art Pyster, Distinguished Research Professor at Stevens, and Dr. Barry Boehm, Director Emeritis of the Center for Software Engineering at USC, serving as Deputy Executive Director and Director of Research, respectively.

Mission
The mission of the Systems Engineering Research Center is to enhance and enable the DoD's capability in Systems Engineering for the successful development, integration, testing and sustainability of complex defense systems, services and enterprises.

Research Thrusts

While OSD and Component actions have accomplished much to ensure theapplication of good systems engineering practices into the way the acquisition community does business, much can still be accomplished to change root cause behaviors on these programs.  Systems engineering research will inform the current state of practice on programs, provide a means to explore and exploit concepts to enable design and development of complex systems, and underpin effective integration of program/business processes with technical management MPTs throughout the acquisition life cycle. 

Review the SERC Annual Reports for comprehensive summaries of the SERC's efforts since its inception.

A Sampling of Recent Research Efforts Sponsored by DASD(SE)

  • System Security Engineering
  • Valuing Flexibility
  • System of Systems (SoS)
  • Quantitative Risk

The SERC recently added the ability to perform classified research tasks.

Visit the SERC Library (http://www.sercuarc.org/library) for additional information.