INCOSE Fellow Rich Harwell

During his more than thirty-eight years as a practicing systems engineer, Rich Harwell has contributed to both research and engineering programs, principally in the aerospace sector for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company. Responsibilities held during this time include Systems Engineering Manger or Lead for a number of projects, Principal Investigator for a multi-year systems engineering IR&D project, team-selected Chair (two terms) for the Lockheed Corporate SE Task Force (governing policies, issues, and practices), and Joint Chair of the first Lockheed Martin SE SubCouncil. He conceived and led development of in-house Applied Systems Engineering Courses and taught these courses to aircraft, space and missile engineers in both Marietta GA and Sunnyvale CA. He was appointed the first Director and Chief Systems Engineer at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory operating under Lockheed Idaho Technologies Company.

Rich is one of four principal authors of the American National Standard ANSI/EIA 632, "Processes for Engineering a System."

After retiring from Lockheed Martin in 1998, he formed a sole-proprietor firm, SYSTEM Perspectives. He has used this firm as a base for continued education of systems engineers through his seminars concerning strategies for engineering systems, having taught over 200 senior engineers and program leaders since the early 1990's. He also has continued his research into improving systems engineering technology and using it effectively in a broad range of applications.

By invitation from the Southern Polytechnic State University (SPSU) in Marietta Georgia, he was the consulting architect in the creation of a curriculum for a MS degree program in Systems Engineering.

Rich has published or presented a number of influential papers on systems engineering and is the principal author and editor of a systems engineering primer produced jointly by the AIAA and INCOSE. He has held leadership positions as an active INCOSE member since the founding of the Council. As Technical Board Chair, he originated and implemented an integrated upgrade of the Technical Board Operations Handbook, a categorized index of all Tech Board Projects, and an in-depth analysis of the activities needed to prepare the Tech Board for the future.

As an AIAA member, he has been Chair of the AIAA Systems Engineering Technical Committee (SETC), where he has been a participant since the committee's inception. He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Rich joined Lockheed upon graduation from Georgia Tech in 1964.

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