The CRDI seminar series continues with guest Anna-Maria Rivas McGowan, a Senior Engineer for Complex Systems Design at NASA. She holds a PhD from the Design Science Program at Michigan and will discuss the Design and Engineering of Complex Systems.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016, 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
112 Walker Building
Abstract
The design and development of complex systems has become increasingly important in the last decade. New terms are emerging to describe this complexity, such as systems of systems, cyber-physical systems, socio-technical systems, and collaborative design. This emerging field recognizes how disciplines outside of traditional engineering both brought on the problems of complexity and made the potential solutions more challenging. These disciplines include information science, statistical science, organizational science, decision science, design science, system science, economics, security, policy, and many others. The complexity invites great innovation to bring together the differing knowledge bases, including those outside of engineering, and to generate new methodologies in engineering practice. These innovative approaches are likely to lie between and beyond traditional and non-traditional disciplines. This presentation will survey the current state of complex systems.
Bio
Anna-Maria Rivas McGowan is NASA’s Senior Engineer for Complex Systems Design, leading the Agency’s initiatives to develop methodologies for designing and engineering complex systems. She serves as an Agency technical advisor and the principal strategist for collaborating with external leaders to advance interdisciplinary research, design, and development of methodologies that address increasing complexities in aerospace systems. She has more than 23 years experience in aerospace research and leadership. Recently, she served as the Project Manager of NASA’s Convergent Aeronautics Solutions (CAS) Project. CAS is a central part of NASA’s strategic vision for transformation in global air mobility, seeking to cultivate multidisciplinary, revolutionary concepts and harness convergence in aeronautics and non- aeronautics technologies. She has a B.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University, M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Old Dominion University, and Ph.D. in Design Science in Engineering from the University of Michigan. She has received numerous NASA individual and group achievement awards.
Seminar co-sponsors
Department of Aerospace Engineering; School of Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs; the Penn State student chapters of the Society of Women Engineers, the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and the Center for Research in Design and Innovation.