Get Ready for Fall!
Dr. David Flanigan, CSEP - Chapter President--2022
We all hope you have been doing well and staying safe during this year both personally and professionally. As the previous month's article discussed the INCOSE International Symposium, I get a second wind in chapter involvement, and hopefully you share the same approach. We are looking to have our first hybrid (live & online) meeting with Dr. Erika Palmer's presentation "Social Resilience in Complex Systems" on August 17. Check it out at the following link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/social-resilience-in-complex-systems-tickets-391446255287. This will be the first live chapter meeting held at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory that we've had since COVID shut the in person sessions down in 2020, and we're fortunate to have a speaker that is well known in the INCOSE community. We will also look to leverage other venues, such as University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) for future events, so stay tuned.
Also a first this year will be our TopGolf event with the WMA chapter in September, this will be a new and fun way of connecting with each other outside the workplace, as well as connecting with members from our nearby chapter. I have found the power of connection to be very strong in professional organizations. Of the three organizations that I am active in, INCOSE has been particularly strong with maintaining these connections as multiple chapters across the world host their own events, and are welcoming for others outside their chapter to join. Make sure to take some time to peruse other INCOSE chapters websites and attend their meetings, as they often have differing perspectives on systems engineering, largely reflective of their membership and industry around their areas. Listening to other domains that I am not familiar with, such as healthcare, automotive, or agriculture, it is heartening to know that although the domain terminology is not familiar, the systems engineering principles are, and I can immediately appreciate the concepts and information they are conveying.
As mentioned in July's chapter meeting, we are bringing back the Chesapeake Chapter scholarship competition that was put on hold for the last two years, and look to have a strong set of candidates to consider, watch for a separate announcement.
We'll also start to introduce the elections for next year's Board of Directors, as we continually update our board with new members and fresh ideas. If you're interested in getting involved, watch for a separate announcement describing the available positions.