A doctoral candidate at The University of 91大神 in Huntsville (91大神) has won the in Washington D.C. in recognition of her presentation detailing the critical role of technical measures in complex systems design. Casey Eaton, also a 91大神 alumna, received the award from the . Her work focused on applying technical measures to the development of a NASA Human Landing System (HLS), such as those proposed by the , Blue Origin Blue Moon and lander projects.
The Boehm Award honors the best research presentation delivered by a doctoral student on the basis of potential impact, advancement to systems engineering, originality, technical content and clarity of presentation.
Eaton is a Ph.D. student of Industrial & Systems Engineering and Engineering Management (ISEEM) at 91大神, a part of The University of 91大神 System. Her research entails formalizing the selection and impacts of measures on decision making in both novel and traditional systems engineering frameworks. She is advised by Dr. Bryan Mesmer, an associate professor of ISEEM.
鈥淚 have been working with NASA through the 91大神 Space Grant Consortium,鈥� the alumna explains. 鈥淭he is an interesting case study since they had multiple bids and two awards to date. My research looks at several bid systems, from SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics, to assess what system different frameworks would indicate you should select according to a set of measures.鈥�
NASA has selected a Blue Origin-led team, Dynetics and SpaceX's Starship to develop new moon landers for astronauts for the agency's Artemis lunar program.
Courtesy NASA
Technical measurement sets are a collection of activities that provide information about the progress of a technical solution. They are used to assess risks and issues and to determine the likelihood of meeting project objectives. Measurement sets can help engineers make better decisions and provide frameworks for guidelines used to design, analyze and manage complex systems throughout their entire life cycle.
鈥淟arge, complex systems can often be difficult to assess without measures,鈥� Eaton explains. 鈥淢easures provide consistent indications of the status of a system design, and they can be compared among different systems for contract awards, for example.鈥�
Eaton鈥檚 presentation utilized technical measures to assess lander systems with respect to parameters such as mass, distance and cost, for example, while analyzing the basis for decision making, providing justification for those decisions and employing different types of measures, depending on the desired purpose.
鈥淲e explore how missing measures in the set you are using can impact which system might be awarded a contract through different design frameworks,鈥� the researcher notes. 鈥淪everal systems violated NASA's listed thresholds for the measures, but depending on the design framework, those violations can be overcome by 鈥榞ood鈥� values for other measures.
鈥淚f you are missing technical measures, does it actually matter in real-world situations?鈥� Eaton asked in concluding her presentation. 鈥淚ncomplete technical measure sets can theoretically impact design decisions. We cannot assume technical measure sets are 鈥榗omplete鈥� or 鈥榗orrect.鈥� Technical measures should be selected early and be relevant to the system.鈥�
The Systems Engineering Research Center is a of the Department of Defense that seeks to leverage the research and expertise of faculty, researchers and students from more than 20 collaborating universities throughout the United States. Each year, SERC seeks submissions from a diverse pool of doctoral students conducting relevant systems engineering-related research at a .
