Jonathan Pratt Named SDM's Director of Career Development and Recruiting

Jonathan Pratt

By Lois Slavin

The MIT System Design and Management (SDM) program is pleased to announce that Jonathan Pratt recently joined SDM as director of career development and recruiting.

"We are fortunate—and delighted—that Jon has joined SDM in this capacity," said Pat Hale, director of the SDM Fellows Program. "His expertise and superb track record in career development and recruiting for the MIT Supply Chain Management (SCM) program; his industry background and knowledge; and his knowledge of MIT and the Engineering Systems Division (ESD) will enable him to make significant contributions to the SDM program and the community it serves."

Pratt spent almost five years in SCM as program manager for career development, recruiting, and alumni relations. His achievements include creating and fostering an SCM-specific career development strategy for individual and collective student needs; working closely with alumni, engaging them in both the career development and recruitment processes; and achieving manifold increases in the number of recruiting companies.

Prior to joining MIT, Pratt was a global recruiting and staffing manager at Stax Inc., a management consulting firm focused on in-depth research and analysis. He has also worked for State Street Corporation as a recruiter, CareerBuilder.com as an account executive, Comcast Media Group as a recruiter, and Robert Half International as an executive recruiting and staffing manager. He holds a BS in sports management/exercise management from Old Dominion University.

"Having worked in ESD's SCM for several years and collaborated with SDM, I've had the opportunity to get to know SDM quite well," said Pratt. "Its master's in engineering and management offers a distinctive interdisciplinary curriculum in leadership, innovation, and systems thinking that is unsurpassed."

"Moreover," he continued, "because SDM Fellows are mid-career technical professionals with significant experience and achievements, they can offer prospective employers a unique and powerful combination of technical and managerial expertise—and the ability to use systems thinking to address today's complex challenges. The career paths and achievements of SDM alumni clearly demonstrate this success in a wide range of organizations, and each graduating class is even stronger. I'm truly honored to be part of the SDM team and look forward to working with SDM Fellows, alumni, industry partners, and prospective employers."

Companies interested in learning about recruiting SDM Fellows may contact Jon Pratt at sdm_careers@mit.edu.

Systems Thinking Webinar Series Marks Significant Milestone

Daniel Sturtevant

On May 6, 2013, at noon, the MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series will offer its 50th webinar. "Technical Debt in Large Systems: Understanding the Cost of Software Complexity" will be presented by SDM alum and ESD Ph.D. Daniel Sturtevant. The event is free and open to all.

Founded in November 2010, the series is an MIT SDM distance learning offering that disseminates information on how to employ systems thinking to address the engineering, management, and socio-political components of today's complex challenges. All webinars feature research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners, and are open to all at no charge.

According to Pat Hale, Director of the SDM Fellows Program, webinar topics have included leadership, innovation, software, product development and design, inventory management, safety, organizational transformation, Lean, and more. Because industries represented by the audience vary from defense, automotive, and aerospace to healthcare, energy, new drug development, and others, each presentation is designed to offer attendees a high-level view of how to apply systems thinking to complex challenges in their own domains.

"Literally thousands have attended the live webinars or listened to on-demand recordings," said Hale. "We've received reports that in some companies, teams watch them to learn together. In addition, many folks attend regularly, no matter what the topic."

The series was created by SDM Communications Director Lois Slavin, with the support of SDM Operations Manager Christine Bates. Each webinar is hosted by Lois, with Steven Derocher serving as technical director.

Access to previously recorded on-demand webinars can be found on our webinars page.

SDMs Join First MEMPC Simulation Competition

By Lynne Weiss

SDM Fellow Terence Teo was a member of
the winning team in the MEMPC's first
simulation competition. He and his
teammates each received a Nexus 7
wifi tablet.
Photo by Dave Schultz

Several SDM students recently had the opportunity to build their systems thinking capabilities and expand their professional networks when they participated in a simulation competition organized by the Master of Engineering Management Programs Consortium (MEMPC).

Founded in 2006, MEMPC was formed to raise awareness of the value of the master of engineering management (MEM) and similar degrees, as well as to share best practices, curricular innovations, and information among member institutions, including MIT, Northwestern, Stanford, Cornell, Duke, and the University of Southern California.

Mark Werwath, director of Northwestern's MEM program, proposed the simulation competition to give MEMPC students an experience comparable to the business case and business plan competitions offered in traditional MBA programs. He also hoped that the multi-school teams would help students expand their professional networks beyond their own institutions.

The competition, MEMPC's first, was managed and moderated by Jeff Lefebvre and David Semb of PriSim Business War Games. Both men are also adjunct faculty in Northwestern's MEM program. "Business simulations are great at building systems thinking capability," Semb said in a recent interview. Lefebvre noted that simulations help engineers let go of the idea that there are "right" solutions to business problems.

The five SDMs who participated were Brian Hendrix, Daniel Camacho Gonzalez, Terence Teo, Shiladitya Ray, and Dexter Tan. Each was assigned to a different multi-school team that played the role of a company in the domestic automobile industry. Teams managed short- and long-term objectives and made decisions about how to interact with competitors, what new products to introduce, and how to support new products. Each team was responsible for establishing its own organization. "Teams could organize by function or by product line," LeFebvre said, noting that there is no one right way to organize any business or team.

The competition began February 11 after students had a chance to review the competition manual and explore PriSim's website. The winning team was announced on March 11.

Teo, whose team won, said his group began by identifying its company's strengths and weaknesses as well as market opportunities and trends. Teo felt that a big part of his team's success was the willingness of members to agree on a strategy—to maintain their product line of high-value cars with a small market and big margins. "We kept our focus on upgrading existing models and on introducing new vehicles quickly," he said.

Teo also credited his team's success to the members' respect for each other's views. One of the few areas of serious disagreement related to pricing. To get advice on this issue, they used one of the two "lifeline calls" to Semb that each team was allowed. Semb suggested they compare the prices dealers paid for cars to what they charged customers. "We realized we had to set a price that was competitive, and that let dealers make higher profits in order to motivate them," Teo said.

Hendrix said he volunteered for the simulation because he wanted to "reinforce some of the real-life experiences I've had and put some of the theory I've learned into action." A product development engineer for Ford Motor Co., Hendrix learned from the opportunity to make executive decisions regarding supply chain and brand management.

Although only one team came out on top, Lefebvre said that in his experience, participants on the teams that struggle most often learn the most. Tan, who works for Continental AG, a German auto manufacturer, agreed. Although his team finished fifth, Tan said he learned leadership skills and the importance of planning and communication. He was enthusiastic about the experience because it provided a "risk-free platform" for testing competitive innovation strategies that he has learned about in class.

Christine Meier, SDM '13: Diversity, Organizational Transformation, and Systems Thinking

By Lois Slavin, SDM Communications Director

Christine Meier
Photo by Dave Schultz

Ask Dr. Christine Meier, SDM '13, about ongoing themes in her career and her response will be brief and emphatic: "Diversity and a desire to help others".

Diversity is evident both academically and professionally. She holds a Ph.D. in human factors psychology from the University of South Dakota and an M.S. in educational research from West Chester University.

Moreover, Meier has worked in a wide diversity of settings, including Fortune 500 and 1000 companies, the U.S. federal government, a start-up, and a company of one that she founded. Often her roles involved technical, managerial, and/or leadership responsibilities. And the industries ranged from health care, financial services and mining safety to computer manufacturing and enterprise software.

The other theme of Meier's career, helping others, is illustrated by her ongoing work in ergonomics, specifically mitigating repetitive motion disorders and making software accessible to users with disabilities. Her intention to serve humankind has become an ever-increasing emphasis in her career choices over the years.

For example, take Meier's work at Ameriprise Financial. Hired to lead an already fully mature program to reduce repetitive stress injuries, she collaborated with the General Accounting Office (GAO) on an in-depth investigation of the program, which the GAO later identified as one of the five most successful programs in the U.S.

Meier said that the GAO found common elements that each program shared: management commitment; employee involvement; identification of problem jobs; training and education; and medical management. These later formed the basis for ergonomic Occupational Health Safety and Health (OSHA) regulations. And Meier subsequently adapted several elements for inclusion in an accessibility program at BMC Software that she created and led and for a program she developed from the ground up for Unisys.

Having already earned doctoral and masters degrees and made significant contributions in diverse business arenas while helping others, why would Meier return to academia for yet another degree? And why SDM?

"Virtually all of my understanding concerning enterprise design and transformation has been through on-the-job experiences, so the SDM curriculum will provide specific, state-of-the-art methodologies and tools taught by expert MIT faculty," she said, adding that she is currently a research assistant for Professor Deborah Nightingale's Enterprise Architecting course. "I look forward to learning about and employing a systematic, systems-based approach for enterprise transformation that, along with my past experiences, would enrich my future work and provide exceptional value to my next employer. SDM's focus on the technical, managerial and leadership components of success, as well as the opportunity to work on team-based projects with SDM fellows who, like me, have significant experience, offers exceptional opportunities".

And not surprisingly, given her focus on helping others, Meier added an excerpt from First Lady Michelle Obama's speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention that is one of her guiding principles:

"When you work hard and done well and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. No. You reach back and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed."

SDM Fellows Create MIT's First BigData Club

Inaugural event, featuring Sloan's Peter Gloor, scheduled for April 25 and open to all

By Lois Slavin 
 

The newly-formed BigDataExplorers@mit, the Institute's first student club dedicated to big data, has announced its inaugural event, "COOLHUNTING: Tracking the Emergence of New Ideas through Individual, Organizational, and Social Network Analysis." Scheduled for April 25 in E51-149, the presentation will be delivered by MIT Sloan's Peter A. Gloor, a research scientist at the Center for Collective Intelligence. Registration is free and open to all. Refreshments will be served.

According to the club's co-founder and president, Rohan Kulkarni, the goal of BigDataExplorers@MIT is to create a platform to enhance understanding of various aspects of big data, explore its applications in a variety of fields, and network with other big data experts and enthusiasts. Kulkarni, a fellow in MIT's System Design and Management (SDM) program, emphasized that while the BigDataExplorers@MIT is student-run, membership is open to all members of the MIT community, alums, and the big data community at-large.


"Big data applications are so diverse and spread across so many industries that we felt it was imperative to create a common platform at MIT that would bring together folks from various domains and with varied expertise to discuss and explore this fascinating field," said Kulkarni. "We invite everyone to attend Dr. Gloor's presentation and to get involved in developing the club's speaker series and other activities."

Gloor will introduce and discuss the concept and framework of "coolhunting", which deals with analyzing the process of new idea creation by tracking human interaction patterns on three levels: global, organizational and individual. He will then describe projects in all of the aforementioned realms and engage the audience in a Q&A. An informal networking session will follow, along with a brief meeting for anyone who is interested in becoming a club member.

BigDataExplorers@mit was co-founded by Kulkarni, along with Carlos Alvidez, Sascha Boehme, and Juan Esteban Montero, who are also fellows in MIT's System Design and Management program, and Aditi Kulkarni, Program Manager at Cigna. SDM is the club's sponsor.

MIT Expert Richard de Neufville to Deliver Webinar on Flexibility in Engineering Design

By Lois Slavin

Richard de Neufville

Flexibility in Engineering Design is the topic and the title of the April 22 offering of the MIT System Design and Management Program's Systems Thinking Webinar Series. The presentation will be delivered by acclaimed MIT professor Richard de Neufville of the MIT Engineering Systems Division and department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Registration is free and open to all.
Details/registration.

Both an engineer and a system designer, de Neufville is currently focusing his research and teaching on inserting flexibility into designing technological systems.

"Major industrial and government projects show that the use of 'real options', enables managers to react to unanticipated events, which significantly increases overall expected performance," he explained.

This work implies a fundamental shift in the engineering design paradigm, from a focus on fixed specifications, to a concern with system performance under the broad range of situations that could occur. His book, "Flexibility in Engineering Design", (co-authored with Stefan Scholtes of the University of Cambridge) was published by the MIT Press in 2011.

In de Neufville's webinar, participants will get learn about:

• the problems with predetermined forecasts or requirement sets;
• the benefits of flexibility in engineering design and its role in designing and developing products that can adapt to a wide range of uncertainties;
• how to utilize flexibility in engineering design;
• how flexibility in engineering design delivers value by reducing or eliminating downside risks, increasing access to upside opportunities, and ultimately producing overall win-win solutions and developmental strategies, and;
• a framework and next steps for applying flexibility in engineering design in your organization.

De Neufville's webinar is free and open to all. Details/registration

De Neufville is renowned at MIT and elsewhere for innovations in engineering education. He was the Founding Chairman of the MIT Technology and Policy Program, and author of 6 major texts on systems analysis in engineering. His work has received extensive recognition by many, among them the Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships, the NATO Systems Science Prize; the Sizer Award for the Most Significant Contribution to MIT Education; and the US Federal Aviation Award for Excellence in Teaching.

At present he is part of the MIT faculty team developing the new Singapore University of Technology and Design, which features a holistic education centered on technological design.

De Neufville is known worldwide for his applications in airport systems planning, design, and management and has been associated with major airport projects in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia — as well as others in Africa and Latin America.

In his spare time, he rows a single scull annually in Boston's Head of the Charles regatta, and regularly goes on week-long hiking treks into the mountains.

SDM '12 Elizabeth Cilley Southerlan Receives Award for Leadership, Innovation, Systems Thinking

By Lois Slavin, SDM Communications Director

Elizabeth Cilley Southerlan

On March 14, 2013, the SDM community convened for the presentation of the 2012 MIT SDM Award for Leadership, Innovation, and Systems Thinking.

The award, created by the SDM staff in 2010, honors a first year SDM student who demonstrates the highest level of:

• strategic, sustainable contributions to fellow SDM students and the broader SDM and MIT communities;
• superior skills in leadership, innovation, and systems thinking; and
• effective collaboration with SDM staff, fellow students, and alums.

All nominees and the winner are selected by the SDM staff. In addition to Southerlan, this year's nominees included Juan Esteban Montero and Alvaro Madero.

Juan Esteban Montero

Southerlan was acknowledged for her numerous contributions to her cohort, the SDM program and the MIT community at-large. Among them are:

• serving as logistics director for the MIT Career Fair where she helped increase SDM's visibility in industry by positioning SDM students as front-runners for moderators of company and industry information panels;
• working as an executive board member of Women in SDM (WiSDM), and collaborating closely with colleagues to put together the WiSDM symposium portion of the annual SDM conference;
• organizing, as SDM social chair, several sponsored events for students only and with their families; and
• working with SDM's Marketing and Alumni Relations Coordinator Melissa Parrillo and Industry Co-director Joan Rubin to understand the program's target demographics, gauge SDM's presence by industry and geography, and confer on next steps.

Alvaro Madero

Southerlan received a $1,000 check as part of her award.

Nominee Alvaro Madero was specifically cited for, among other contributions, co-chairing the 2013 SDM Tech Trek and serving as the SDM Industrial Relations Committee's media chair. Nominee Juan Esteban Montero was recognized for founding the MIT Mining, Oil, and Gas Club which, in under one year, has over 150 members from the MIT student and faculty communities, as well as from industry and academic communities worldwide.