Some Perspectives on Engineering Systems: Initiatives in Research and Education

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Some Perspectives on Engineering
SystemsInitiatives in Research and Education

• University of Arizona
• Tucson, AR
• February 29, 2008
• Joseph M Sussman
• JR East Professor of Civil
• Acknowledgement Professor Joel Moses
  Environmental Engineering and
• Institute Professor MIT
  Engineering Systems, MIT

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Engineering Science ? ENGINEERING SYSTEMS

• Viewed as a distinct approach from the
  engineering science revolution of the late 1950s
  and early 1960s. Engineering science built on
  the physical sciences physics, mathematics,
  chemistry, etc., to build a stronger quantitative
  base for engineering, as opposed to the empirical
  base of years past.
• This approach, while extraordinarily valuable,
  tends to be very micro in scale, and focuses on
  mechanics as the underlying discipline.
• Engineering Systems
• Now engineering systems takes a step back from
  the immediacy of the technology and is concerned
  with how the system in its entirety behaves, for
  example, emergent behavior of complex systems.

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ENGINEERING SYSTEMS(at the interface of
Engineering, Management and Social Science)
Engineering Systems
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Definition of Engineering Systems

• Engineering Systems are
• Technologically enabled Networks Meta-systems
  which transform, transport, exchange and regulate
  Mass, Energy and Information
• Large-scale
• large number of interconnections and components
• Socio-technical aspects
• social, political and economic aspects that
  influence them
• Nested complexity
• within technical system and social/political
  system
• Dynamic
• involving multiple time scales,uncertainty
  lifecycle issues
• Likely to have emergent properties

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Understanding Engineering Systems Requires

• Interdisciplinary Perspective technology,
  management science and social science
• Incorporation of system properties such as
  sustainability, safety and flexibility in the
  design process.
• Enterprise Perspective
• Different Stakeholder Perspectives
• Examples are
• Automobile Production Systems, Aerospace
  enterprise systems, Air and Ground Transportation
  Systems, Global Communication Systems, the World
  Wide Web, the National electric power grid,
  health care systems

These systems are complex in several ways
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Engineering SystemsCharacteristics and
Perspectives

• Multidimensional Complexity/Emergent Properties
• Technical Complexity Illities Flexibility,
  Robustness, Sustainability, Maintainability,
  Quality, etc.
• Organizational Complexity The Extended
  Enterprise
• Contextual Complexity Societal Perspective,
  Qualitative As Well As Quantitative Analysis
• Evaluative Complexity Multiple Stakeholders,
  Life Cycle Analysis
• System Architecture is a Starting Point
  Holistic, Enterprise Perspective
• Context in the Design Process Internalize the
  Externalities
• Uncertainty Management in Design

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ESD Mission Statement

• ESD is establishing Engineering Systems as a
  field of study in order to transform macro scale
  engineering systems in society. It will do so by
  educating engineering leaders in, and developing
  principles and methods for, engineering systems
  that cut across the boundaries of engineering,
  management and social science.

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ESD Goals Objectives

• Create An Intellectual Home for Faculty From
  Engineering, Management, and the Social Sciences,
  Committed to Integrative, Interdisciplinary
  Engineering Systems Programs.
• Develop Concepts, Frameworks, and Methodologies
  that Codify Knowledge and Define Engineering
  Systems as a Field of Study.
• Educate Engineering Students To Be Tomorrows
  Leaders, Via Innovative Academic and Research
  Programs. These Leaders Will Plan, Design and
  Develop Systems That are Technically Excellent,
  Socially Responsive and Are Implemented On Time
  and Budget.
• Introduce Engineering Systems Into The Mainstream
  of Engineering Education, By Working With the MIT
  Engineering Departments, the Institute As a
  Whole, and Other Engineering Schools Worldwide.
• Initiate Research on Engineering Systems of
  National and International Importance, Working in
  Partnership With Government and Industry.

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ESD Academic and Research Units
TPP Technology Policy Program
CTL Center for Transportation Logistics
LFM Leaders For Manufacturing
CTPID Center For Technology, Policy,
and Industrial Development
SDM Systems Design and Management
Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals
MLOG Master of Engineering in Logistics
(Supply Chains
Lab for Energy and Environment
PhD
Joint with MIT Sloan School of Management
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Intellectual Structure of ESD Degrees
Engineering Practice
TPP
ESD SM
LFM
SDM
MLOG
Engineering Systems Scholarship (ESD PhD)
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The Future of Engineering SystemsThe Realities

• Engineering Systems in the Real World Will
  Continue To Increase in Size, Scope and
  Complexity
• Engineering Systems Thinking Is Necessary to
  Address the Realities of the 21st Century and
  Critical Contemporary Issues and Messy
  Complexity Unanticipated Events, Globalization,
  Rapid Rate of Change, Societal Concerns,
  International Competition, Overcapacity, Rising
  Consumer Expectations
• By addressing such issues, Engineering Systems is
  a pathway for relevance of universities (in a
  society where relevance is demanded for all
  institutions)

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Engineering Systems and The Engineering
Profession

• Developing Engineering Systems Requires Leaders
  that Understand Technology.
• New Opportunities for Engineers Developing
  Engineering Systems
• Those Engineering Leaders Need More Than
  Technical Knowledge Broader Understanding of
  Organizations and Context.
• The Challenge for Engineering Schools Offer
  Engineering Systems Programs to Educate Future
  Engineering Leaders
• A Long-Term Mission Is To Develop Engineering
  Systems As A Field of Study The Journey Has Just
  Begun

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C L I O S System Studied with the C L I O S
Process

• Complex
• Large-scale
• Interconnected
• Open
• Socio-technical

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The C L I O S Process

• A 3-Stage, 12-step, iterative process used to
  study CLIOS Systems

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CLIOS PROCESS STAGE CHARACTERISTICS
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The Twelve Steps of the CLIOS Process
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C L I O S System

• Structural complexity
• The number of components in the system and the
  network of interconnections between them
• Behavioral complexity
• The type of behavior that emerges due to the
  manner in which sets of components interact
• Evaluative complexity
• The competing perspectives of stakeholders who
  have different views of good system performance
• Nested Complexity
• - The interaction between a complex
  physical domain and a complex institutional
  sphere

Complex
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Nested Complexity

• Physical system
• More quantitative principles
• Engineering economic models
• Institutional sphere
• More qualitative in nature and often more
  participatory
• Stakeholder evaluation and organizational
  analysis
• Different methodologies are required
• within the physical system
• between the policy system and the physical system
• within the policy system

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C L I O S System for Subject in Engineering
System Design 2006 and 2007
Complex Large-scale

• TRANSPORTING SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL
• Large-scale in
• Geographic extent, and
• Impact

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C L I O S System

• TRANSPORTING SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL
• Transportation interconnected with
• Energy
• Global Climate Change

Complex Large-scale Interconnected
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C L I O S System
Complex Large-scale Interconnected Open
TRANSPORTING SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL

• Social Factors
• Risk
• Political Factors
• Geopolitics
• Economic Factors
• Development

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C L I O S System
Complex Large-scale Interconnected Open Socio-tech
nical

• An Example of a Socio-technical System

• TRANSPORTING SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL
• Complex Technology
• Important Social Impacts

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CLIOS System/ CLIOS Process Ideas

• Sustainability as an overarching design
  principle for CLIOS Systems
• Separate organizations from other components-
  CLIOS System world view
• Distinguish between representation and modeling
• Representation related to visualization
• Think carefully about when to quantify--when to
  model
• Recognize different kinds of complexity
• Emphasis on dealing with uncertainty
• Emphasis on stakeholder roles
• Strategic alternatives
• Robust bundles of strategic alternatives
• Concern with implementation and monitoring of
  performance
• Iteration-- not a one time-through process

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What Engineering System Teaching Implies for
Academia I

• Reaching beyond engineering to management, social
  science, planning.
• Recognizing the need for qualitative as well as
  quantitative analysis.
• Eschewing narrow representations of complex
  systems that can be formally solved, but that
  have little relevance to real-world issues.

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What Engineering System Teaching Implies for
Academia II

• Realizing that optimal solutions are often
  beyond the pale a small set of feasible
  solutions is often all we can hope for because of
  evaluative complexity.
• Learning to approach with considerable humility,
  our intervention in complex socio-technical
  domains remember that behavioral complexity
  makes predictions extraordinarily difficult.

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Some CLIOS Process Applications

• Transportation and Air Quality in Mexico City
• Strategic Alternatives for Congestion Reduction
  in the Bay Area
• Cape Wind-- Off-shore Renewable Energy in
  Nantucket Sound
• Organizational Infrastructure and Technology for
  Air Combat
• Provision of Broadband Telecommunication Services
  by Municipal Electric Utilities (MEUs)
• Regional Strategic Transportation Planning (RSTP)
  as Coupled to Supply Chain Management (SCM)

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The CLIOS Process and the 24-Hour Knowledge
Factory

• How do we represent the domain?
• Is the 24-hour Knowledge Factory a CLIOS System?
  What kinds of complexity are present?
• What are the key design issues?
• What are the strategic alternatives we should
  consider?
• What methods should be applied?
• What are the sources of uncertainties?

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To close.

• Thanks for your attention!
• QUESTIONS?
• COMMENTS?