September 2004
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The amount of time and effort devoted to research by the faculty at the United States Military Academy has been increasing over the past 20 years. Commensurately, the funding received by the departments and the research centers of excellence has grown dramatically. There are two significant complementary forces driving these increases: 1. More departments and faculty researchers are understanding the significantly positive value of conducting research on Army and DoD projects and its impact on their teaching cadets in the classroom, and 2. More organizations are aware of the impact US Military Academy researchers can have on their organization through the application of their analytical abilities combined with their military expertise. The Dean of the Academic Board, BO Daniel Kaufman, wants to ensure that the outreach research program continues to grow by enabling researchers and facilitating their interaction with clients. Conversely, he also wants to ensure the research continues to improve the educational experience in the classroom and does not become its detriment. To accomplish this, BO Kaufman, requested the Department of Systems Engineering lead a team of analysts to determine the organization and approach required to meet the Academy's needs. In this report we describe our application of the Systems Engineering and Management Process (SEMP) to the issue. This is the process we followed to develop our recommendation and explain our plan for implementation of that recommendation. The final recommended course of action which address the Dean's and other significant stakeholders needs, wants and desires is for the Academy to increase the size - and impact - of the Academic Research Division (ARD) and institute a Research Advisory Council to facilitate interdisciplinary interactions between departments and research centers.