Congratulations to our 2019 System Engineering Professional (SEP) Honorees!

By Taras A Mykytyn, INCOSE-CC President

Yet another year of celebration of our Professional Systems Engineers!

This is our Chapter’s 10th year of celebrating the achievements of xx certifications awarded to the Chesapeake Chapter members. Because we appreciate the achievements of our community, along with our Chapter members, we also celebrated those members of nearby Chapters including Washington Metro Area and Southern Maryland Chapters, who received Systems Engineering Professional certifications during the preceding twelve months. We were honored to have the President of the Southern Maryland Chapter, Cheryl Kimchen, who accepted the customary ESEP polo shirt for a Chapter member.

Please read the summary and view the pictures from this year’s event. Another wonderful celebration and an excellent venue for this event. Please join us at our Holiday Gala Event on December 18th to celebrate our 25th Anniversary as an INCOSE Chapter.

The 10th Annual SEP Gala Event was held at the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion (also referred to as The Engineers Club), a historic home located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Built in 1853 by Samuel George, the home gets its name from its last and most famous owner, Mary Frick Garrett Jacobs, who, with her husband Robert Garrett, transformed the home into a prime example of the Gilded Age mansions of the city.

The evening began with a tour of the mansion by the Executive Director of The Engineers Club for interested guests. Cocktail hour was hosted in the atrium area of the mansion with excellent hors d’oeuvres and drinks. The guests enjoyed chatting with other professional engineers, guest of honors, and our Chapter board members. The staff at the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion made our guests feel right at home during this part of the evening.

Our hostess, Cyndi Roberts, signaled everyone with the dinner chimes for dinner into the ballroom, the mansion’s formal dining room for events. Once we were seated, the Chapter President, Taras Mykytyn, ASEP, welcomed everyone to the SEP Gala Event, and set the tone for the evening with a note on the importance of mentoring the next generation of STEM students and professionals to prepare them to think broader and more completely to address the future challenges lying ahead for our society. The INCOSE 2025 Strategic Vision was suggested for all to read and share with our future STEM prodigies. Our sponsors were thanked for their continuous support to our Chapter: Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering—Engineering for Professionals Systems Engineering Program (Dr. Ron Luman), JHU/APL for hosting our monthly meetings and events, and Perspecta (Craig Tyler).

A wonderful meal was served, complimented by wine and dessert for all to enjoy. Next part of the evening’s agenda encompassed a special award to Mr. David Long, ESEP, Past President of INCOSE. Mr. David Long received the 2019 Fellows Award for advancing the state of systems engineering practice through methods, processes and tools, especially in support of Model Based Systems Engineering.

Next our guest speakers presented outstanding presentations on the future of INCOSE and streamlining of the SEP certification process within INCOSE. Mr. Garry Roedler, a Senior Fellow and the Engineering Outreach Program Manager for Lockheed Martin and the President for the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), presented an engaging briefing on the challenges and changes the world is facing as noted in the INCOSE 2025 Vision paper. Mr. Roedler provided excellent examples of how technology will be pervasive throughout society and our personal and professional lives, and why systems engineering is more critical than ever in this complex and interconnected world. Then Ms. Courtney Wright, CSEP, is INCOSE’s Certification Program Manager since 2013, presented an overview of how INCOSE has rethought and reworked their certification processes to engage and entice more engineers to become professionally certified as SEPs. Ms. Wright provided concrete examples of where INCOSE has reached out to other organizations and institutions to address the challenges for becoming a SEP by leveraging experience and subject matter expertise available through other channels besides the past certification exams and SEP experience paperwork.

The highlight of the evening was honoring those Systems Engineering Professionals who received their Certifications within the last twelve months. Each honoree was individually presented with a Certificate of Achievement and a Chesapeake Chapter medallion. Keeping with tradition, Honoree ESEP, Mr. Jeffrey Berlet, employed by Perspecta, was congratulated by all ESEPs in attendance in a receiving line.

As the President of the INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter, I was honored to host this event and preside as the master of ceremony. This yearly event is a culmination of many hours of volunteer work by the Chapter Board of Director Members, Chapter Ambassadors and Special Interest Group Leads, the various companies supporting their systems engineering professionals, and the excellent staff at the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion. The Chesapeake Chapter is already planning for the Holiday Event and its 25th Anniversary Celebration and looks forward to having everyone attend this celebration.