An Analysis by Roger Bacon
(from his Opus Majus written in 1267)
 
“Now there are four chief obstacles in grasping truth, which hinder every man, however learned, and scarcely allow any one to win a clear title to learning, namely:
1. submission to faulty and unworthy authority,
2. influence of custom,
3. popular prejudice, and
4. concealment of our own ignorance accompanied by an ostentatious display of our knowledge.

July is at hand, and a mid-year update is in order – a review of where we have been and a look ahead at the chapter activities planned for next year. This year, our chapter has led or participated in the following:

• January: John O. Clark, of Northrop Grumman and a past president of the Hampton Roads Area chapter of INCOSE, made two presentations, “Systems of Systems Engineering and Family of Systems Engineering from a Standards Perspective,” (a speaker meeting) and “Systems Engineering Stand on Standards.” The latter presentation was a tutorial presented as a part of a joint technical symposium with SPIN, the Software Process Improvement Network.
• February: “Systems Engineering for Project Managers” was presented by James Manson III, a past president of our Los Angeles chapter and a Project Management Professional. This presentation was a part of a dinner meeting held jointly with the local chapter of the Project Management Institute.
• March: “State Analysis for Systems Engineering” was presented by Robert Rasmussen and Michel Ingham of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Mr. Rasmussen and Mr. Ingham discussed their topic as both a speaker meeting topic, with several remote sites, and as a tutorial.
• April: The Conference on Systems Engineering Research (CSER) 2008, a two day event, was held in Redondo Beach. A three-day course on the “Basics of Systems Engineering” was held at the Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo.
• May: Todd Bayer and Glenn Havens presented a discussion entitled “Systems Engineering Challenges and Results for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter” in a joint meeting with the AIAA. INCOSE Fellow Scott Jackson conducted a tutorial, “Architecting Resilient Systems: Beyond Challenger, Katrina and Chernobyl.”

Article submitted by Stephen Guine 

As the INCOSE-LA representative to the San Fernando Engineers’ Council, my role is to identify opportunities for collaboration and then facilitate the communication between the appropriate members of each organization.

The San Fernando Council is the largest in the United States. Its mission is to advance the art and science of engineering, to advance the welfare of the general public through the creative resources and abilities of the engineering professions, to inform the general public of the advantages and capabilities of engineering in advancing human welfare, and to provide suitable public recognition of engineering achievement. Based on this mission, there are obvious similarities to the goals of INCOSE-LA and therefore opportunities for our organizations to work in tandem on certain events. While the Council is based in the San Fernando Valley, it represents engineers throughout the greater Los Angeles area. An overview of this organization can be found at http://www.engineerscouncil.org/history.html. 

The Basics of Systems Engineering program is offering a free introductory course in the fundamentals of systems engineering. This course will be offered under the Department of Labor/Wired grant. The course is sponsored by the California Innovation Corridor. The course has been developed jointly by the Aerospace Corporation and the California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo and will be given on the university campus in San Luis Obispo on September 9 and 10, 2008.