Stevens Institute of Technology, lead university of the DoD funded Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) located in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Founded in 1870, Stevens is recognized as one of the oldest technological universities in the United States, with more than 5,000 students, assets exceeding $330M and annual research revenue of $29M.  Identified as one of the leading providers of Systems Engineering (SE) education in a 2003 study by the NSA, Stevens is considered the largest provider of SE education to the DoD and defense related industries in the nation. To date, the DoD has sponsored more than $18M in Systems Engineering research at the Institute. The strategic importance of SE to Stevens was reinforced in March 2007 when the School of Systems and Enterprises (SSE) was created at the direction of the Stevens Board of Trustees.

Utilizing an open academic model, the Institute leverages partnerships in industry, government and academia to offer highly relevant and engaged SE curricula.  Delivered by experienced faculty and practitioners, Stevens’ SE graduate programs bring together the “hard” disciplines of systems and software engineering with the “softer” disciplines of systems thinking, enterprise governance, and enterprise architecting and engineering to deliver an academic experience that is rigorous and relevant.

Originally established in 1919 as the Army’s Air School of Application, the Air Force Institute of Technology, or AFIT, is the Air Force's Graduate School of Engineering and Management as well as its institution for technical professional continuing education. As a component of Air University, the mission of the AFIT Graduate School is to provide high-quality graduate education programs and engage in research activities that enable the Air Force to maintain its scientific and technological dominance. At the direction of the Secretary of the Air Force, AFIT became the home of the Air Force Center for Systems Engineering (CSE) in February 2003. The CSE builds on AFIT’s thirty plus years of Systems Engineering expertise, and provides additional assistance to the Air Force in the areas of consultation and policy recommendations.

AFIT provides the advantage of experienced, military and DoD civilian students and faculty that can work directly with DoD sponsors to accomplish research objectives and provide transitionable products of that research. AFIT faculty and students are uniquely suited to share and build on experiences from working with a wide variety of DoD customers including laboratories, program offices, logistics centers, and those involved in capability based planning. Strong SE research threads at AFIT include interoperability measurement, early application of SE, architecture evaluation and usage, and human systems integration.

For more than a century, engineers have studied at Auburn University, going on to share their knowledge and innovations with the world. Graduates have become astronauts, inventors and CEOs, while others have revolutionized the alternative energy, telecommunications, materials and wireless industries. The Samuel Ginn College of Engineering offers Alabama’s largest engineering program and awards more than $1 million in scholarships annually. Auburn’s Industrial and Systems Engineering program has granted degrees since 1931 and has over 4,000 living alumni. The graduate program is ranked 21st by 2009 U.S. News & World Report and has current research funding from NSF, NASA, ONR, NIOSH/CDC and FHWA. Research specialties include simulation and modeling; data mining and decision analysis; optimization of complex systems; logistics and supply chain; financial engineering; safety and ergonomics; and system quality and reliability. Auburn University is a NSA/DHS National Center of Information Assurance Excellence in Research and Education. The multidisciplinary Auburn Information Assurance Center conducts classified research with specializations in software anti-tamper techniques, software vulnerability, secure coding and denial of service defense and remediation. A major research emphasis of Auburn’s Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering is the design and development of DOD Architecture Framework - compatible information assurance architectures.

The Fraunhofer Center for Experimental Software Engineering, Maryland (FC-MD) is a not-for-profit applied-research and technology-transfer organization affiliated with the University of Maryland (UMD) in College Park. FC-MD specializes in systems and software-engineering practices, software acquisition, and process engineering with over 10 years of experience in assisting large and small organizations in the public and private sectors to define, evaluate, and implement a range of software-engineering technical and management practices. FC-MD applies expertise in consideration of customer organizations’ contexts, goals, project objectives, and cultures, adapting and leveraging industry models for best practice solutions in addressing specific needs. FC-MD’s technical staff consists primarily of well-educated and highly experienced professionals, most with Master’s degrees and PhD’s in a variety of technical disciplines, and subject matter experts that are world renown in their fields of expertise. FC-MD has extensive experience working in collaborative environments in both lead and support roles.

The Fraunhofer Center's expertise encompasses the following specific areas:

Embedded Software, Network-centric systems of systems, Knowledge management, Measurement, Defect management, Risk analysis and management, COTS-based development, Process improvement, Requirements management, Quality assurance processes, Independent verification and validation, Inspection techniques, Software architecture, Testing, Formal methods, Quality assurance, Software development environments, Technology assessment and transfer, Process implementation.

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is one of the collaborating universities for the newly formed Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC). Since its founding in 1870 as the first technological university west of the Mississippi River, Missouri S&T has been a pioneer in higher education. Current enrollment is well over 6000 students, with over 70% of students enrolled in engineering programs. These educational programs are also augmented by a strong campus-wide emphasis on research, providing practical experience and an annual research revenue of over $38 million.

Missouri S&T is the leading Systems Engineering University in the Midwest, and one of only six universities in the nation to offer a doctoral program in Systems Engineering. Many industry leaders have chosen Missouri S&T to train their System Engineers, such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Honeywell. A diverse and experienced faculty and industry practitioners provide an engaging curriculum and research opportunities that include systems architecture, complex systems of systems, network centric systems, and distributed systems modeling. Financial support for system engineering research in the network centric area (supported by National Science Foundation, Army Research Laboratory, and Department of Energy) exceeded $1.2 million last year.  Combining real world experience and diverse research specialties, Missouri S&T delivers a challenging and highly relevant program of study.

Southern Methodist University (SMU) located in Dallas, Texas, is a collaborating university in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)- funded Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC). SMU, founded in 1911, is a private university of 11,000 students near the center of Dallas, offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs through seven schools – in the humanities and sciences; business; arts; engineering; education and human development; law; and theology. SMU is the host of recently announced Lockheed Martin Skunk Works Lab and has been chosen as the site of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. The SMU Systems Engineering Program (SEP) resides in the Department of Engineering Management, Information and Systems (EMIS) in the Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering. The SEP, originated 1991, was approved in December 1994. The program was initiated, and is maintained, in response to needs of the Aerospace and Defense (A&D) sector through ongoing Development Team projects that includes participation by members affiliated with Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Vought Aircraft, Bell Helicopter, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, NASA, Sandia Labs and the U.S. DoD OSD, and the Air force, Army and Navy. Over 800 students have been admitted to the SEP, with over 450 graduates. The SEP curriculum and research is focused on development of A&D systems and workplace - relevant education is delivered by experienced resident faculty and Industry & government practitioners.

Texas A&M University, a collaborating institution in the DOD and NSA jointly funded Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC), is located in College Station, Texas.

Opened in 1876 as Texas’ first public institution of higher learning, Texas A&M University is a research-intensive flagship university with 46,000-plus undergraduates and 8,500 graduate students studying in more than 250 degree programs in 10 colleges. Texas A&M is one of a select few universities with land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant designations. With nearly $570 million invested in research, Texas A&M ranks in the top tier of universities nationwide in research expenditures

Texas A&M University has been at the forefront of systems and enterprise engineering research through collaborative partnerships between federal agencies, national laboratories and private industry. The university has significant research expertise in complex engineered systems; system of systems; decision, risk and enterprise management; modeling, simulation and visualization; software systems; and cognitive engineering. The University offers graduate program concentration in systems engineering with a focus on understanding and tackling interdisciplinary issues at the interface of management, engineering, and public policy. The program graduates have core expertise in a set of integrated decision making methodologies drawn from economics, optimization, probability, systems thinking and analysis, and decision analysis, with breadth in business, economics, finance, management, mathematics, public policy and traditional engineering disciplines.

Texas Tech University, a collaborating university in the jointly funded Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC), is located in Lubbock, Texas. Founded in 1923, Texas Tech is recognized as a leading comprehensive public research university in the United States. Texas Tech enrolls over than 28,000 students in 300 degree programs located in 11 colleges. Post-baccalaureate degrees at Texas Tech are offered by the Graduate School, Law School, and Health Sciences Center. Annual research funding exceeds $50 million. Systems engineering research interests include defense-related industry, transportation, effective management of technology, small and medium enterprises, agricultural systems, energy, project team interaction, organizational learning, and comprehensive transportation corridor development.

The systems engineering program at Texas Tech provides students with a balance of theoretical development and practical application. Students include both traditional full-time members and practicing professionals attending on a part-time basis, a mix that facilitates discussion to reinforce key elements in the material being presented. Systems engineering engages the students, staff and faculty through the advancement of teaching, service and research through the Texas Tech University motto, “From here, it’s possible.”

The University of California, San Diego, a collaborating university in the jointly funded Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC), is located in La Jolla, CA. Founded in 1960, the University of California, San Diego is one of the nation’s most accomplished research universities, widely acknowledged for its local impact, national influence and global reach. U.S. News and World Report ranks UC San Diego as 7th best public university in the nation, and its Jacobs School of Engineering ranks 11th among the nation's top 191 engineering schools and 5th in the nation among public universities. With $141.0 million in federal, state and industry research support in FY07, the Jacobs School ranks 4th in the nation for research expenditures per faculty member, reflecting UCSD's leadership as a research university. The graduate program for Architecture-based Enterprise Systems Engineering (AESE) is focused on methodologies and tools to develop and to manage complex and adaptive enterprises. The program builds upon the systems research efforts in every department in the Jacobs School and the major research institutes, the San Diego Supercomputer Center and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology. Furthermore, the program is conducted jointly with the Rady School of Management. As a result, faculty and students are deeply involved in the development and maturation of a much needed, holistic engineering systems-management science discipline that addresses the complex systems engineering challenges of this century.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst campus is the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system. The campus sits on nearly 1,450-acres in the scenic Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, 90 miles from Boston and 175 miles from New York City. The campus provides a rich cultural environment in a rural setting close to major urban centers. In 2007, UMass Amherst enrolled a total of 25,873 students, of which 5759 were graduate students, and had a faculty of 1175. The UMass Amherst Computer Science Department has for decades been one of the strongest on campus, consistently ranked in the top twenty computer science departments by the National Research Council and US News and World Reports. The UMass Amherst Software Engineering research group is an international leader in research and technology development focused on process definition and on analysis of both software and systems. Tools such as the Little-JIL process definition language, the FLAVERS finite-state verification system, and the PROPEL requirements engineering system have been successfully applied to such specific domains as healthcare and on-line negotiation and will be valuable contributions to SERC’s efforts in the larger domain of systems engineering.

USC’s systems engineering research and education foundations are based on the pioneering Systems Architecting approach developed by the late Prof. Eberhardt Rechtin, and the stakeholder value-based approach to integrating systems engineering and software engineering developed by Prof. Barry Boehm.  USC’s Center for Systems and Software Engineering is based in the Viterbi School of Engineering, but includes interdisciplinary Principals in the Marshall School of Business, the Department of Homeland Security-sponsored CREATE Center, and the Institute for Creative Technology UARC.  Its principals include 6 INCOSE Fellows, 7 IEEE Fellows, and 6 members of the National Academy of Engineering. 

Its recent research contributions include the Incremental Commitment Model used to integrate hardware, software, and human factors engineering within systems engineering; and the COSYSMO model for estimating systems engineering costs.  USC’s Systems Architecting and Engineering MS program is one of the world’s largest.  USC and Stevens have joined together in several systems engineering leadership initiatives, such as co-founding the Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER), co-founding with MIT the INCOSE Systems Engineering Academic Network (SEANET), and research collaborations in extending the Incremental Commitment Model and integrating agile methods within systems engineering.

U.Va. School of Engineering and Applied Science Department of Systems and Information Engineering jointly funded Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC), located in Charlottesville, Virginia. The University of Virginia was ranked the No. 2 best public university in the 2008 edition of the U.S. News and World Report and continues to rank in the Top 25 among the best of all national universities, public and private. Founded in 1836, the U.Va. School of Engineering and Applied Science combines research and educational opportunities for a student body of 2,000 undergraduates and 650 graduate students. At the graduate level, the Engineering School collaborates with the University’s highly ranked medical, business and education schools on interdisciplinary research projects and entrepreneurial initiatives. Highly interdisciplinary in nature, the Department of Systems and Information Engineering includes nearly 300 undergraduate students, approximately 85 graduate students and 20 faculty members. It includes major research centers addressing important systems problems focused on systems technology integration, risk analysis, and human factors, providing both undergraduate and graduate students with a rich set of opportunities to address large scale system engineering problems. The department has focused its research activities on two major application domains, namely national security and health care.