By News and Internal Communications

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – Dr. Satya Aditya Akundi, UTRGV assistant professor of engineering technology, has been awarded a grant by The National Science Foundation to undertake a regional workforce development effort in conducting workshops on Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) for production.

The program, within the Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering in the UTRGV College of Engineering and Computer Science, will bring together topical and industry experts, researchers, trainers and faculty to support a two-day workshop on MBSE.

The workshop will be held in the summer 2020 on the Brownsville Campus, and will facilitate discussions on the importance of MBSE in industries and academia. A definite date is pending and will be announced at a later time.

Akundi, principle investigator of the $100,000 grant, said MBSE is a technique used to develop structured models of complex systems that incorporates input from various stakeholders and, by doing so, enables understanding of critical components, interfaces and system processes.

“This workshop will provide a platform for creating a training environment centered on educating the current emerging workforce on the concepts, guiding principles and use of MBSE,” Akundi said. “It will help give participants a path to improve their careers and will provide an opportunity to build a well-prepared workforce.”

UTRGV is one of the three institutions in United States to be awarded this conference grant the NSF’s EHR Core Research: Production Engineering Education and Research program, which seeks to improve the education of future and current professionals in production engineering.