Title:
Space Systems Engineering Professional Development and Certification
Space Systems Engineering Professional Development and Certification
Author(s)
Fisher, Gerard H.
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Abstract
In the mid-1990s, the Federal Government pursued "Acquisition Reform," which resulted in significantly
reduced government technical oversight of contractors. This caused less technical personnel to be hired
in the government program offices for the last ten years. Recent investigations of space problems have
recognized the need to revitalize the systems engineering workforce within the government program
offices. Two years ago, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) embarked on the development of a
professional development and certification program for space systems engineering. The NRO workforce
is heterogeneous; it is comprised of military and civilian members of all DoD services as well as several
intelligence community agencies. Our objective was to develop a program that maximized the synergy
with parent-agency programs and avoided any redundant training requirements. A three-level
certification program was established that required technical education, systems engineering experience,
and systems engineering training. The training selected is a combination of existing NRO courses, offthe-
shelf academic courses, commercial training classes, and newly developed classes. After the first
year, over 375 employees have attended at least one training class and we are certifying systems
engineers at the rate of 10-12 per month. The success of this program has led to potential expansion into
other areas of the government.
Sponsor
AIAA Space Systems Technical Committee ; AIAA Space Transportation Systems Technical Committee ; Space Technology Advanced Research Center
Date Issued
2005-11-09
Extent
181496 bytes
126249 bytes
1905 bytes
181496 bytes
126249 bytes
126249 bytes
1905 bytes
181496 bytes
126249 bytes
Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Presentation