About Us

The Systems Engineering program was developed to meet the Air Force’s stated need for officers who are prepared to address the complex engineering and management challenges presented by modern systems design, development and operation.

System Engineering Faculty & Staff

The SE program spans several departments and academic divisions as one of only a few interdepartmental programs at the United States Air Force Academy. The following departments provide faculty, curriculum and other resources to the program:

• Department of Aeronautical Engineering 
• Department of Astronautical Engineering
• Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership
• Department of Computer and Cyber Sciences
• Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Department of Engineering Mechanics
• Department of Management

Even as one of the Academy’s youngest academic programs, SE attracts top students that strive to balance the hardware, software and human challenges of modern complex engineering systems. The curriculum balances preparation for these challenges and our SE’s continue to garner high praise in their engineering capstone design projects for effectively leading highly technical systems design efforts.

In addition to developing the declared SE majors, the SE program continues to develop the systems thinking of all Academy graduates in research, welcome enrollment in its fundamental SE courses for all cadets, and an eye to the future of developing our graduates for their role in a highly technical Air Force.

The program was formed in 2003, and received initial ABET accreditation in 2008 (re-accredited in 2014).

Systems Engineering Committee and Board

The program is staffed with a few dedicated faculty positions, but also leverages two horizontal bodies, the SE Committee and the SE Board. Dedicated faculty positions include the Program Director, their Deputy Director, and Civilian and endowed Chairs as assigned. The SE Committee is comprised of working level faculty from each of the participating departments listed above. The SE Committee performs many of the functions typically found in traditional program departments in a distributed fashion. The SE Board is comprised of the Department Heads of each of the participating departments and acts as an advisory board to the Program Director.