HOBOKEN, N.J. - Dr. Brian Sauser, Assistant Professor in the School of Systems and Enterprises at Stevens Institute of Technology, has been awarded a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Faculty Fellowship for 2007.
The NASA Faculty Fellowship Program (NFFP) provides faculty an opportunity to engage in research at one of the participating NASA Centers. The NFFP research experience supports the Space Exploration Vision for America’s Civil Space Program — a return to the Moon, missions to Mars, and journeys beyond, including NASA’s Exploration Systems, Science, Space Operations, and Aeronautics research missions. Sauser will spend a 10-week summer residency at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, with an option for extended support during the academic year.
Fellowships are awarded to qualified faculty members at US colleges and universities to perform collaborative research projects of mutual interest to the fellow and NASA colleagues, and relevant to the Center and Agency missions.
The NFFP is jointly administered by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA).
Sauser will be working with the Engineering Directorate at JSC on two research and development initiatives directly focused on growing the systems engineering competencies of the engineering workforce at JSC. With NASA ventures to return to the Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond, the importance of systems engineering and its value-based understanding in the engineering workforce has become of critical importance.
Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator, recently stated in a public address at Purdue University, “System engineering seeks to assure that elements of a complex artifact are coupled only as intended… System engineering is the link which has evolved between the art and science of engineering.”
During Sauser’s residency at JSC he will work with the JSC Engineering Academy to develop systems engineering curriculum and training materials for the JSC workforce at the basics and advanced levels, and the research the identification of various indices in formation and performance of teams that have to address short-term, complex engineering challenges. JSC has recently been challenged by forming engineering design teams under short time constraints and wants to determine the optimal team formation to achieve the best team performance. Sauser will use traditional social network analysis with social network analysis done via email to determine these rapid team formation indices to assist JSC in the formation of their engineering design teams.
In addition, Sauser was recently named the Stevens Institute of Technology representative to the New Jersey Space Grant Consortium Program Council. He is replacing Stevens’ Dr. Siva Thangam, who had served in the position for 15 years.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value. Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 1,850 undergraduate and 2,980 graduate students, and a worldwide online enrollment of 2,250, with a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty of 140 and more than 200 full-time special faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at http:// www.stevens.edu. For the latest news about Stevens, please visit http://www.StevensNewsService.com.