Twenty-three Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) and Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) employees received their Master of Science degrees in systems engineering (MSSE) or engineering systems (MSES) and 13 earned their Lead Systems Integrator (LSI) certificates from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) at a graduation ceremony here Apr. 13.
Graduate Joan Melendez, fuel systems propulsion and power engineer, Propulsion and Power Engineering department, currently on rotation in Jacksonville, Florida, praised the program for its applicability to her work.
“The curriculum covered the gamut of systems engineering, and the instructors covered topics applicable to programs at NAVAIR,” she explained. “This program taught me various methods to approach problems from different angles, and I have even been able to apply these approaches to my daily tasking. This experience provided a holistic background of the roles and responsibilities that are required to become a systems engineer and reinforced my aspirations to become one.”
The Lead Systems Integrator (LSI) certificate is a four course, one-year program that prepares students to assume positions as LSIs and focuses on design and trade-off analyses of systems-of-systems (SoS) architectures, execution of SoS acquisitions, and engineering implications to the role of the LSI in contract management.
Rear Adm. Shane Gahagan, commander, NAWCAD and assistant commander for research and engineering, NAVAIR, served as the keynote speaker for the event. Recognizing that the graduates were not alone in pursuit of their degrees, he thanked their family members, mentors, supervisors and coworkers: “You believed in them, encouraged them, and made all of the adjustments necessary to continue the mission while they pushed themselves to both do their jobs and to complete this challenging course of study.”
Rear Adm. Gahagan then thanked the graduates for furthering their education to become “better problem-solvers for our men and women in uniform. Our contribution to their mission of deterring and defeating aggression is to provide safe, effective equipment and that means we are required to be innovators. You are part of a proud tradition, a proud organization and a great team. We believe in you and we need you. I can’t wait to see what great things you will do now in service to our country.”
During the ceremony, the Wayne E. Meyer Awards for students and faculty members who displayed technical expertise and leadership were announced. Harris Tanveer earned the student award, and faculty members Ronald R. Carlson and Cmdr. Peter W. Ward were honored for their teaching excellence.
NPS began as a school of marine engineering at Annapolis in 1909 and moved to its current campus in Monterey, California, in 1951. NAVAIR teamed with NPS to create the MSSE and MSES program in 2008,
To learn more about the program and how to apply, contact the NPS office at Patuxent River at 301-757-0517.
Spring 2017 MSSE and MSES graduates: Alexis Alexandris, Kahsay Araya, Paul Armstrong, Cmdr. Jerick C. Black, Amber M. Cook, David M. Cudd, Leah Montoya Haas, Sadie Hoeschen, Sean Holden, Kelly Kiang, Thomas Kowalski, Lt. Cmdr. Justin Letwinsky, Joan Misner, Sean Misner, Lt. Cmdr. Allison Moon, David Muse, Lt. Cmdr. Otto Piedmont II, David M. Rodriquez, Lt. Blake Shaffer, Bob Steinbach, Harris Tanveer, Jeanelle Tortorice and Joseph Walker.
Spring 2017 Lead Systems Integrator Certificate recipients: Cynthia Davis, Kevin Dusch, Erik Eldridge, Gregory Gibbs, David Kaniss, Candida Olney, Peter Stauffer, Thomas Stubbs, Emily Stump, Dorian Tavarez, Ronald Walden, Kent Yen and Peter Youssef.
The newest graduates of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) proudly display their Master of Science diplomas and Lead Systems Integrator (LSI) certificates after an April ceremony at Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) headquarters, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The program, a partnership of the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and NPS, provides an educational avenue for military officers and civilians wishing to gain expertise in systems engineering and integration. (U.S. Navy photo)
