This article presents an educational approach to applied capstone research projects using a mission engineering focus. It reviews recent advances in mission engineering within the Department of Defense and integrates that work into an approach for research within the Systems Engineering Department at the Naval Postgraduate School. A generalized sequence of System Definition, System Modeling, and System Analysis is presented as an executable sequence of activities to support analysis of operational missions within a student research project at Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). That approach is detailed and demonstrated through analysis of the integration of a long-range strike capability on a MH-60S helicopter. The article serves as a demonstration of an approach for producing operationally applicable results from student projects in the context of mission engineering. Specifically, it demonstrates that students can execute a systems engineering project that conducts system-level design with direct consideration of mission impacts at the system of systems level. Discussion of the benefits and limitations of this approach are discussed and suggestions for integrating mission engineering into capstone courses are provided.

This paper describes an approach to blend several qualitative and quantitative methods to establish the boundaries of complex systems in terms of uncontrollable, non-numeric variables. Decision makers increasingly encounter layered, multidimensional, interconnected issues that contain unknown unknowns, vast uncertainties, and ill-defined lines of demarcation between the beginning and the end of the problem. The inexactness of boundaries in a systems problem is a result of not knowing important variables, existence of uncontrollable variables, and near-uncountable significant interactions among the variables. Furthermore, complexities and systems challenges arise from unexpected emergent behavior(s) that are often the primary concerns of systems engineers. The ability to investigate uncontrollable variables and their interactions with the system of interest is a critical step for bounding the system problem and defining the solution space. Thus, this paper focuses on developing a means for systematically examining these variables. By incorporating scenario-based computer simulations, scenario discretization, and customized designs of experiments, the authors offer systems engineers and scientists an approach for defining a viable solution space of a complex problem by developing constraint equations from uncontrollable, non-numeric variables.

Complex or wicked problems necessarily require multidisciplinary approaches to shape the issue(s) into a structure that can lead to viable solutions. This paper presents a case in which a systematic approach was used to combine structuring methods to support a research design that intended to quantitatively relate variables which have been insufficiently defined. Misconstrued definitions of variables and the dearth or missing data are just some of the characteristics that make this problem “complex.” The scientist’s primary work in the early stages of this type of research effort is to apply a series of techniques that meaningfully define the variables, specify relevant data to support development of quantitative models, and generate and\or collect that data. The sequence of discussion in this paper is a multimethod outline for addressing complex problems. This paper begins by defining complex or wicked problems. Next, an illustrative military problem that exhibits complex characteristics is presented. Sequentially, various structuring techniques from several fields of study such as systems engineering, operations research, and computer science are discussed and applied to the problem. Activities began with a workshop to learn about the problem and provide context. This venue allowed primary stakeholders to describe the variables from their stance. During the workshop, participants conceptualized relationships among the variables. An in-depth literature review before and after the workshop informed development of theories and hypotheses about the variables and plausible connections among them. Using functional decomposition, the team broke down the variables into their fundamental components. Relational matrices and causal loop diagrams formed initial ideas for how the components may be linked. Functional decomposition syntax also led to relevant, quantifiable measures that afforded an opportunity to mathematically formulate relationships among components, thereby achieving the primary objective of the problem. Blending techniques from different disciplines and their respective structuring methods is a powerful approach for creating conditions to solve complex or wicked problems. The utility of this study is in identifying the critical properties of a complex or wicked problem and mapping suitable methods to “tame” them. The overall approach is applicable to complex problems found in industry, government, and scientific research.

This paper highlights the impact of implementing a course about engineering research on the quality of capstone projects by master’s students with limited science, technology, engineering, and math background. In the academic year 2020, the Naval Postgraduate School Systems Engineering Department began requiring students in the Systems Engineering Management for Acquisition program to take a course focused on engineering research. The graduation requirement for students in this program is a capstone team project and report. Prior to implementing an engineering course in the academic matrix, faculty assessments of the final reports identified shortcomings, specifically in the research approach, analysis, value proposition, and overall scholarship. The Department responded by developing a course in engineering research with an emphasis on applying engineering reasoning and critical thinking within the systems engineering design process. After the student’s completion and submission of a final capstone report to the thesis processing office, faculty advisors provide a subjective assessment of the work. The evaluation criteria include the level that the students have demonstrated mastery of the discipline, rigorous application of research and analysis methods, critical thinking, and publication worthiness of the document. Using five years of data, the author conducted a comparative analysis of evaluations from project advisors before and after the course was required. The results of the analysis show significant improvements in the areas that were lacking in student work before the introduction of the engineering research course. Additionally, the author discusses specific elements of the course that indicate their contributions to improvements in the research approach and the overall quality of the work and final products. This case analysis asks the engineering community to consider elements of the engineering research course in future investigations or as a guide to develop a similar program of instruction.