Overview

The Department of Systems Engineering offers a four-course academic Systems Engineering Capstone (SEC) certificate that enables students to apply systems engineering in defense acquisition and system lifecycle support. SEC provide students the opportunity to demonstrate they can understand complex problems, propose rational solutions, analyze and recommend the best solution, and communicate the results. The capstone experience is the final synthesis of Systems Engineering education. Students bring together the principles they have practiced in other SE certificate programs to real-world national security problems posed by DoD sponsors. This program is targeted for students who have completed the other certificates and want to fulfil all the requirements for a MS in Systems Engineering or MS in Engineering Systems degree.

Courses Required

Included in degrees & certificates

• 311

Requirements for Entry

• Undergraduate engineering, science or technical degree with a minimum 2.2 grade point average
• At least one calculus course
• Successful completion of System Engineering Certificate (282)
• Successful completion of Systems Capability & Design Certificate (131)
• Specialty Domain Certificate or approval of academic associate

Learning Outcomes

Engineering Design analysis

Understand and apply core qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze and select hardware and software system designs. Methods should include problem formulation, alternatives development, alternatives modeling and evaluation, alternatives comparison, optimization, decision analysis, failure analysis, risk analysis, and futures analysis.

System Integration and Development

Apply the core skills of system integration and development to include integrating relevant technological disciplines that bear on the system effectiveness and cost. Understand system realization methods and processes necessary to transition from design to production, including prototyping, design for producibility, and production methods.

System Verification and Validation

Apply the fundamental verification and validation principles of system test and evaluation to confirm if the capability needs and system requirements are met by the designed system. V&V principles are to include inferential statistics methods such as design of experiments (DOE) and analysis of variance (ANOVA), and testing methods such as functional simulation, analysis, examination, software in the loop, hardware in the loop, full system testing, and operational testing; in order to verify that the hardware matches the simulations in the earliest available environment and continuing during the entire life-cycle.

System Design

Understand and apply the system design process in a holistic context, applying and integrating methods for both software and hardware aspects including identifying capability need, defining requirements, conducting functional analysis and allocation to hardware, software, and human elements, creating a system functional design, designing a system, deriving and defining requirement specifications, allocating requirement specifications to sub-systems (for hardware, software, and human elements), design for suitability, including reliability, availability, maintainability, operability, and logistical supportability, perform system assessment by conducting trade-off studies, evaluating system design alternatives against system capability need expressed as military effectiveness, estimating and analyzing the system cost and risk, including risk mitigation strategies, integrating human elements into the system design, and analyzing and planning for system testing and evaluation.

Project Management

Work as a team member or leader on a military systems engineering project. Demonstrate an understanding of project management principles. Demonstrate competence in the planning and management of complex projects. Understand the principles of and apply current industry approaches and technology to manage systems design, integration, test, and evaluation for large engineering projects.

Application Information

Applications are handled by the NPS Admissions Office. Please visit the admissions website or contact them at admissions@nps.edu.

Tuition & Service Obligation

For information regarding tuition, please contact the NPS Tuition office at tuition@nps.edu, or contact this offering’s POC at jwsweene@nps.edu.

For information regarding service obligation, please visit the Admissions Office’s Eligibility/Service Obligation page.

Other Information

This certificate program is targeted for students who have completed three other certificates (SE fundamentals, SE Core, SE Specialty Domain) and want to fulfill all the requirements for a MS in Systems Engineering or MS in Engineering Systems degree. When students apply for this fourth SE certificate, they will also need to apply for the 311 SE Non-Resident Master's Degree program.