GMU Software Engineering Seminar Series

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Date: Fri, 4/16/2010

Time: 12:30 – 1:30pm

Location: Jajodia Auditorium, Engineering

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Title: Changing the Game - Impacts of Technological Changes in the Cyber Environment on Software/Systems Engineering Workforce Development

Speaker: Kenneth Nidiffer

Abstract

The world at large is ever more dependent on the advances in the cyber environment. The exponential growth in cyber-reliant systems, technologies, architectures, and capabilities in government and industry organizations represent huge commensurate risks. These risks often occur in the development of software-intensive systems where complex cyber intensive engineering activities continue to suffer from major cost increases, schedules delays, and failures to deliver key capabilities. For numerous reasons, organizations are struggling with the challenges of educating, obtaining and maintaining a best-in-class system and software engineering workforce. A central issue is that although high-level guidance exists, it requires both developers and acquirers to have a workforce with extensive software and systems engineering core competencies, education and experience. Unfortunately organizations are losing their experienced engineering workforce and without capturing this experience, developers and acquirers can misinterpret trade-off alternatives and auger in with disastrous results. This presentation provides an understanding of how technological changes in the cyber environment are causing abrupt changes in software/systems engineering workforce development and some of the solutions that are being proposed.

Bio
Dr. Kenneth Nidiffer is Director of Strategic Plans for Government Programs at the Software Engineering Institute where he leverages his 48-years of work experience. He received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering in 1962 from Purdue University, Indiana, a M.S. degree in Astronautical Engineering in 1969 from the Air Force Institute of Technology, Ohio, a MBA degree from Auburn University, Alabama in 1975 and his D.Sc. in Systems Engineering from George Washington University, in Washington D.C. in 1988. Dr. Nidiffer is currently a member of OSD (DDR&E) Software Engineering Industrial Expert Panel; senior member of AIAA; a PMI Program Manager Professional, a member of INCOSE and IEEE, a member of AFCEA's Technical Committee, a member of NDIA's system engineering committee and the longest serving adjunct graduate-engineering professor in the Computer Science Department at George Mason University. Ken has authored numerous papers and is highly sought after as a public speaker.