Chapter History
The Southern Maryland Chapter of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) began in February 1998. The core group of organizers recognized the sizable Systems Engineering infrastructure in the Patuxent River area created by the presence of the Naval Air Systems Command, the Naval Air Warfare Center (Aircraft Division and Field Activity at St. Indigos), the Naval Air Station, and a growing community of Industry partners. Elections were held in December 1998, the Chapter bylaws were approved at INCOSE Headquarters and with 30 members, the Southern Maryland Chapter of INCOSE Charter was signed on January 1999. The installation of new officers took place soon thereafter.
2000 - 2005: The INCOSE Southern Maryland Chapter quickly engaged at the local level with its members, and at the International level, participating in numerous working groups dedicated to improving the application of systems engineering. INCOSE Southern Maryland Chapter was a catalyst for NAVAIR to join the Corporate Advisory Board (CAB) sending senior leadership into INCOSE forums and symposia to discuss critical issues while furthering INCOSE International objectives. NAVAIR provided significant resources to the authoring of the INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook as well as continuous and robust participation in conference/symposia activities and the establishment of a professional certification program. Local efforts established a luncheon speaker program, periodic tutorials and networking opportunities.
2005-2009: The Southern Maryland Chapter continued its primary goal advancement of the application of systems engineering. The Southern Maryland Chapter activities improved the awareness of SE resulting in increased awareness of the Chapter. The Southern Maryland Chapter embraced the much larger surrounding technical community and organizations. This included joining The Patuxent Partnership organization to improve networking in the community. Key events included two multi-day conferences exploring Systems Engineering topicality related to battle space systems engineering for Department of Navy, actively partnering with the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) organization for a college level unmanned air vehicle systems competition, an active luncheon speaker program, and participation with the local school system science fair program which includes a formal awards luncheon being established. The Southern Maryland Chapter also organized and led a 2 ½ day SE Conference in Hampton Roads Virginia for INCOSE Region V, which was a rousing success.
2010-2016: The Southern Maryland Chapter continued advancing the practice of systems engineering despite the signification decrease in Government support for the Chapter. This Southern Maryland Chapter continued serving the technical community and expanded its outreach efforts toward the local community and its regional partners. This included working closely with The Patuxent Partnership organization, the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) organization’s Seafarer Chapter, and INCOSE Region V’s Washington Metro Chapter. Key events included organizing and hosting two local multi-day conferences exploring systems engineering topicality related to battle space systems engineering for Department of Navy, actively partnering with the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) organization for a college level unmanned air systems competition, an active luncheon speaker program, and participation with the local school system science fair program including a formal awards luncheon being established. Our regional involved participating in the organizing, planning and staging of two Region V 3-day conferences.
2017 – 2020: The Southern Maryland Chapter continues to better engage with its outreach initiatives with increased involvement with INCOSE International programs and an expanded role with student chapter participation. The Southern Maryland Chapter focused on another level of education for its members by providing several low-cost tutorials dealing with “Agile Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Project Planning” and “Solving the Systems Engineering Puzzle: A Group Discussion About Lessons Learned and Establishing Best Practices”. Our next initiative is associated with Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). NAVAIR is trying to move their Systems Engineering base to engage in all form of Model-Based Engineering. The SoMD Chapter sees and opportunity to provide Expert Level Training in MBSE to Government SEs and thus reestablish and strengthen it base inside the Government and hopefully attracts additional and new Systems Engineers to the Chapter. Additionally, we have embraced a new initiative in conjunction with the Washington Regional Chapter to engage with international students interested in unmanned systems and this will be a year to test the waters on its ability to build membership.