Apologies for tardiness in posting recently. A couple of
months ago, one of the online free-content university consortiums that I
frequent, Saylor Academy, offered a six-week
course on Space Systems Engineering. The curriculum was developed by both
Saylor Engineering faculty and NASA systems
engineers and managers. I had to jump at the opportunity and thus enrolled in the
demanding six-week course.
Unfortunately, there was more reading, multimedia material
review, and writing and content analysis involved in their undergraduate course
than in any course I have ever taken at the undergraduate or graduate level. I
pushed hard, relishing the challenge. However, due to my acquired disabilities
(alluded to in previous postings) I was unable to continue past Week 4
coursework. In addition, the effort thwarted my usual consumption of
educational material and other independent study. I spent time recuperating,
reviewing course material and lectures that I have previously
completed—particularly Prof. Rick
Roderick’s The Self Under Siege and
Michael Schermer’s Skeptic 101: How to
Think Like a Scientist, both courses offered by The Great Courses catalog of The
Teaching Company.
I also continued reading Will Durant’s The Story of Philosophy which
requires a thorough and cautiously slow examination. I left the SE course with
an “A” average and did find the experience very enlightening. I gained a new
perspective on the complexity and exhaustiveness of NASA mission planning.
Thus, despite my failure, not everything was lost in my failure. I may be able
to (hopefully) complete the remaining two units at a later date.
Prior to enrolling in Saylor
Academy’s SSE course, I did have some background in the broader approach to
systems generally, elaborated primarily by Prof. C. West Churchman as systems
thinking, at the urging of my doctoral advisor. In fact, one of the iterations
of my dissertation proposal was titled, Decision-making
for Social Change in Complex Systems.
Churchman authored one of the seminal texts on the subject
accessible to academics and laypersons alike. His work is titled simply The Systems Approach.
Churchman was both ground-breaking and a good teacher. Noted linguist,
polarizing public scholar and activist Noam Chomsky said of Churchman that he
was the only person at Penn who taught him anything as an
undergraduate—according to his Wikipedia page anyway.
However, my approach to systems thinking was primarily informed
by my background in social and behavioral sciences at the undergraduate level
and my MBA, Ph.D. in Management & Decision Science (both of which focused
on organizational behavior) and philosophy M.A. study at the graduate level.
This course provided me the opportunity to explore many of the same concepts
from the engineering perspective in a very high-stakes environment housed in
NASA’s complex bureaucracy.
My postings for this blog inevitably run many more
paragraphs than I prefer or intend. Someday, I will develop the skill of
writing more information with fewer words and narrower focus… hopefully…
So, I will simply conclude with some broad strokes about the
content and presentation of the course. The primary text was NASA’s massive
volume, NASA
Systems Engineering Handbook. Lectures were delivered primarily through
Saylor Academy’s YouTube channel by Project Manager Jeff Volosin,
NASA Missions Engineer Mike
Menzel, and nobel prize winning Cal Tech
physics professor, Dr. John C.
Mather. Students were involved but not required to work in a small
application group to develop plans for a NASA Mars mission orbiter vehicle.
The first unit of study was dedicated to defining and
exploring the precise meaning of systems engineering and the primary activities
of a NASA systems engineer. According to NASA
Systems Engineering Handbook, “System engineering is the art and science of
developing an operable system that meets requirements with imposed
constraints.” This straightforward activities that can be undertaken to meet a
series of objectives and meet an overarching goal, contributing to NASA’s
broader mission of exploration. If only that were true! SE is basically the
board game Othello on super-charged steroids:
It takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master.
There were warning signs of the complexity to come.
Constraints is always a nice way to say tight deadlines and underfunding of a
project. Then, later in the section they began to talk about stakeholders.
Stakeholder interests drive many aspects of NASA mission planning. So, who are
the stakeholders? Well, a couple of obvious ones are scientists of many fields,
as well as, science educators. It would be nice if it stopped there but
actually the NASA SE’s and PM’s must take into account the stakeholder
interests of the US Federal Government, American taxpayers (who fund the
agency), foreign partners, corporate interests, probably even your dog. In
other words, a simple robotic exploration of the lunar or Martian surface
requires not only the skills to bring together an enormous number of technical,
engineering, and scientific savants, create an environment in which they can
all be productive and execute the core functions of the mission in such a way
as to please every man woman, child, aardvark, and all the animals on Noah’s
ark—maybe even protozoa!
One of the most interesting lectures was given by Gentry
Lee, a sort of irreverent genius with a presentation style all his own. If you
have internet access and an interest in this kind o of thing, check out his
lecture “Personal Characteristics of good Systems Engineers.
Well, I’ve rambled on long enough That doesn’t even put a
dent in the near 100 pages of my handwritten notes, numerous weekly videos, and
writing/analysis/writing assignments from the first four weeks of coursework.
But what do I know? Maybe some of my rambling might just pique your interest
enough to lead you to check out the course materials for yourself. Saylor.org
Course SSE 101 is on the website Of course the academy offers many diverse
courses and majors.
As always, happy learning!
***UPDATE 2/15/2015: Well, it has taken much time, much effort, but I have finally completed the course. I received a certificate of completion from Saylor Academy and NASA. I didn't finish with the best grade but given how long it took me to complete it, I was just happy to pass both the 2 hour final and the course.
***UPDATE 2/15/2015: Well, it has taken much time, much effort, but I have finally completed the course. I received a certificate of completion from Saylor Academy and NASA. I didn't finish with the best grade but given how long it took me to complete it, I was just happy to pass both the 2 hour final and the course.
