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for their students.4 SE450 has a similar approach, in that there are many small assignments in the semester, which together create a study of an entire project. Finally, the US Air Force Academy has a very similar course in their Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. In comparing the two, they have similar goals and also incorporate a real-world scenario. They have had success in using the client, which bears out as well in SE450. However, their focus is primarily on the project management perspective, rather than the engineering design or decision making approach.5

Academic Environment at the Military Academy The United States Military Academy has the mission to “educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army.”6 To achieve this mission, the Academy instructs cadets in the military, physical, and academic domains, and each is essential for a cadet’s development. Academically, cadets choose a major from one of thirteen academic departments. Regardless of their major, all graduates earn a Bachelor of Science degree, a result of the high concentration of math and science courses required as part of the core curriculum.

The Dean of the Academic Board recently wrote Educating Future Army Officers for a Changing World, which states the Dean’s developmental goals for cadets. That document sets the standard that “graduates apply mathematics, science, technology, and the engineering design process to devise technological problem solutions that are effective and adaptable.”7 Toward that goal, it sets out the policy that all cadets who do not pursue an engineering major take a three-course engineering sequence in civil, electrical, environmental, mechanical, nuclear or systems engineering. The purpose of the sequence is to introduce cadets to the engineering design process. The sequence is to include a “well-integrated progression from predominantly engineering science to predominantly engineering design, and a culminating design project.”8

For Systems Engineering, the first course in the engineering sequence is SE300, Introduction to Systems Engineering, and teaches cadets the Systems Engineering and Management Process, or SEMP, a problem-solving methodology used by cadets and faculty in the department. The second course, SE350, Systems Modeling and Design, introduces the cadets to analytical modeling tools such as forecasting, economic analysis and simulation that could be used to try to solve a systems engineering problem. The capstone course is SE450, Project Management and System Design, which is focused on the “culminating design project” called for by the Dean. In order to grasp the strategy and structure of this third course, it is necessary to first understand the nature of the academic environment, then describe the SEMP and the associated class assignments.

Classes at the Military Academy are small by design, limited to 18 or fewer cadets in each class hour. Each semester has 40 lessons or class meetings, and each class period is 55 minutes long. All the cadets in SE450 are seniors, and as mentioned above, none are engineering majors. In any given semester, there are approximately 110 cadets in the entire course, spread over 6-7 class hours or sections. Each section has its own project,

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Martin, G. (2006, June), Systems Engineering Capstone Experience At United States Military Academy Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--1281