Producing the Best for Aerospace and Defense: Systems Architecting and Engineering Program at the University of Southern California

The Systems Architecting and Engineering Graduate Program at the University of Southern California began as a graduate educational program primarily focused on aerospace and defense. Founded by Eberhardt Rechtin in 1987, the program today is a science, technology, engineering, and math success story in terms of its growth, teaching approach, and contributions to the engineering workforce in aerospace and defense. Systems Architecting and Engineering is a multidisciplinary field that cuts across science, technology, engineering, and math, and draws on concepts from psychology, sociology, biology, and economics. This paper presents the genesis of this program, its teaching philosophy, its evolution in response to the demands of the marketplace, and its vision for the future.