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.”

• In July Dr. Joel Sercel is presenting a speaker meeting on “The Systems Engineering Factory,” and Dr. James Martin is presenting a tutorial on “Architecture Frameworks and Modeling.”

Activities being considered for the rest of 2008 include:

• A discussion based on technical working groups led by members of the INCOSE-LA chapter
• “Systems Engineers – the Wizards of Modern Society”
• “Requirements Dilemmas, SysML and ICM: Everything You Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask”
• Model Based Systems Engineering
• Complex Systems Modeling, SysML

These activities reflect the efforts of the Board of Directors and their supporting volunteers to provide the members of the Los Angeles chapter with opportunities to network with other systems engineers, to meet professionals from other organizations and to strengthen and expand their own skills as systems engineers.

Want to help and get more involved? We are a volunteer organization and are always looking for help. Here are a few ways that
you can become involved:

• Attend and participate in our speaker meetings, either at the host site or via webcast.
• Prepare a presentation for a speaker meeting.
• Participate in our tutorials and workshops.
• Volunteer to help with our speaker meeting, tutorials, workshops and mini-conference.
• Contribute articles to INSIGHT magazine, Systems Engineering magazine. or to our chapter’s newsletter.
• Present a paper at an INCOSE mini-conference, symposium, workshop or conference.
• Join an INCOSE Technical Working Group – several are chaired by members of the L.A. Chapter.
• Let your Board of Directors know! If you have feedback on an event or suggestions for future activities, please send it to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
  

In closing, the BoD looks forward to your continued participation, support. and membership. It is your knowledge and contributions that help keep our Chapter active and able to deliver quality material.