Systems Engineering (Independent Study)

Designed a senior year independent study class in Systems Engineering, advised by my Innovation teacher.

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• Scheduling

  I’ve structured this course by reading and assigning myself problems from a systems engineering textbook, and supplementing with other supplementary readings and lectures from OpenCourseWare. 

  I spend about 5 hours/week on this course. Work includes:

  • Reading and notetaking for textbook chapters, video lectures, and supplemental readings
    

  • Chapter questions (weekly) from the back of the book

  • Research essay or project (trimester summative assignment)

• MIT OpenCourseWare

  MIT publishes free college course material. I used two OpenCourseWare classes when designing my class:

  • Fundamentals of Systems Engineering (Prof. De Weck): Sourced video lectures and supplementary material

  • System Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World (IAP): Specifically used as an introduction to system dynamics.

• Readings

  Main textbook:
  Systems Engineering Principles and Practice (2nd ed.)

  Supplemental reading:
  Thinking In Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows
  Complexity: A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell
  Product Design and Development 7th edition By Karl Ulrich, Steven Eppinger and Maria C. Yang
  NASA Systems Engineering Handbook (2017 ed.)