INCOSE Members help University of Maryland Baltimore County gain INCOSE Academic Equivalency
Dr. Woodrow W. Winchester, III CPEM
On July 7, 2021, The International Council of System Engineering (INCOSE) released an exciting News Release announcing that the INCOSE Certification program has recognized the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and awarded them Academic Equivalency for their SYST 660: Systems Engineering Principles course. Because of this, a student who passes the course will not have to take the INCOSE Knowledge Exam in order to be certified as an Associate Systems Engineering Professional (ASEP) or Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP). This knowledge demonstration is key in achieving either certifications, making this equivalency a great benefit to UMBC students.
The man behind this achievement is an INCOSE member and the new Graduate Program Director for Professional Engineering Programs at the UMBC College of Engineering and Information Technology (COEIT), Woodrow W. Winchester, III, PhD, CPEM. He saw the potential of the INCOSE Academic Equivalency Program to the UMBC Systems Engineering graduates and he enlisted another INCOSE Member, Paul Martin, ESEP, to design, develop and deliver a Systems Engineering Principles course that met the 33 INCOSE Core Learning Objectives. Mr. Martin also helped fill out the required Academic Equivalency mapping Spreadsheet in order to show that the course met INCOSE’s Academic Equivalency criteria. After an intensive review by the INCOSE Certification program, and ensuring SYST 660: Systems Engineering Principles course met the requirements, UMBC became part of the growing list of Universities with approved Academic Equivalency Programs and the only program in the state of Maryland.
Paul Martin, ESEP
Dr. Woodrow W. Winchester, III recently provided a Mini-Talk to the INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter on “Beyond Aerospace and Defense: Defining New Regional Frontiers for Systems Engineering (SE) Growth and Impact” Woodrow is a regular contributor to the ASEM Blog and a selected member of the second cohort of the IAspire Leadership Academy. Woodrow is a strong advocate for more equitable, inclusive, and consequential approaches to technology design and deployment. As a thought leader, Woodrow has published works in influential practitioner-oriented publications such as INCOSE Insight Magazine, ACM Interactions, and Fast Company Magazine. He is currently under contract with CRC Press to write Inclusion by Design: Future Thinking Approaches to New Product Development.
Paul Martin was the INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter Director of Communications (2019-2020) and because of his work in getting UMBC into INCOSE Academic Equivalency Program, he was recieved the 2021 COEIT Adjunct Faculty Excellence Award. Paul is the owner of SE Scholar, a company dedicated to helping Systems Engineers get their INCOSE SEP certification. He also regularly teaches for UMBC Training Centers with course such as INCOSE SEP Exam Preparation and Principles of Systems Engineering. Several years back he gave a Chapter talk on Zen and the Art of Systems Thinking.