The History Column: Interview with Bob Rassa
By: Qusi Alqarqaz
This is the first article of a series of articles on the history of systems engineering or biographies/interviews of notable people in the Systems Council fields of interest for the IEEE System Council newsletter.
In this article, I am talking to the founder of the IEEE System Council, Bob Rassa, sharing his experiences, success stories, and the challenges that he has faced.
Host: Qusi Alqarqaz is an IEEE senior member is a contributor to IEEE Spectrum and The Institute as well as serves on The Institute’s Editorial Advisory Board. Qusi Alqarqaz is an electrical engineer, engineering manager, and consultant with more than 33 years of experience in the electric power industry and in the analysis and performance improvement initiatives involving electric utilities.
Guest: Bob Rassa is the retired Director of Engineering Programs at Raytheon Technologies Intelligence and Space Systems, El Segundo CA and Fallston MD, since April 1996. He is the founder of the IEEE System Council and received an Award from the IEEE Systems Council.
The Founding of the IEEE System Council
Qusai: It's an honor to talk to you, and it's a pleasure always to talk to you. Especially you're the founder of the system council.
Bob: Yes, I am. That I am.
Qusai: I remember when we exchange emails at the beginning, you told me, "I have all the documents. I'm the one who made this." Let's say, if you don't mind, regardless, whatever we're going talk about, talk about that stage. How did you come up with the idea? How did you find it?
Bob: It started with the defense world. I was employed by Raytheon. This was in 1997. I came up with a thought that because I was looking at military products and talking with the military, and the military was complaining that the test equipment that they had was not capable of testing the radar systems, so therefore, there must be something wrong with the test equipment. I did an investigation before Raytheon. I started out of Hughes Aircraft, and they merged with Raytheon. I found that there was nothing wrong with the test equipment at all. The problem was with the radar systems. They weren't designed to be tested or maintained, they were only designed to work.
Then I said, "What's missing is systems engineering. We're not system engineering the radar systems." That caused Hughes Aircraft and Raytheon to set up system engineering departments. In order to be a bit more broad, I went to an organization called the National Security Industrial Association, which I was a member, it is now the National Defense Industrial Association, and I said, "What we need is a division or committee that focuses on system engineering so we can share the best practices for this new discipline of system engineering." They said, "Okay, that's a good idea."
That's how I got the other defense contractors involved and started working with the Pentagon. The division I founded, my initiative is what caused the term of system engineering to be applied in the Department of Defense. It did not exist there prior to that. After about five or so years of promoting system engineering in the military systems, I'm thinking, "You know what? I've been a member of IEEE for a while. System engineering is needed in the commercial environment as well."
I said to some fellow presidents in technical activities, I was the president of Instrumentation and Measurements Society at the time, "What we need is a council on system engineering." After about a year's worth of work, we were able to get that done. It was supposed to be called the System Engineering Council, but there were a few people that argued that we were trying to take over all of engineering. One member of TAB stood up and said- technically [unintelligible 00:09:49] board, and said, "Okay, let's just end this argument. Why don't we just call it the Systems Council and be done with it?" Everybody said, "Yes," because it ended the argument. The Systems Council got started 18 years ago, 2005, and here we are today.
Part Two: Thank you, Bob, For All That You've Done
Qusai: Thank you for doing this.
Bob: It's been a joy to promote the discipline of system engineering because it's a very new discipline and not everybody understands it. System engineering is-
Qusai: I don't want to interrupt, but I was going to ask about that before we go deep into that, we want our audience or readers to know what system engineering is. Do you mind defining for me system engineering?
Bob: That's what I was just about to do? System engineering is quite unique in that there are no formulas to follow, such as in radar engineering or computer system engineering, et cetera. System engineering is a philosophy of design engineering in which you consider the entire product from the very inception at the front end, what is it supposed to do, what does it really have to do, to the very end of the product through maintaining the product once built, updating it as necessary, and eventually, disposal.
System engineering is the philosophy of engineering that says, when you design something, no matter what it is, even a process for banking, for example, you must design it from the very start to satisfy the need of the user and the customer throughout its entire usage, throughout its entire life cycle, including shipping it to the site where you're going to use it and storing it, then eventually using it, and then again, maintaining it, updating it, and then eventual disposal. It's a philosophy of design. It's not a methodology of how to design a radar system, it's a philosophy of how to design anything.
Qusai: It's interesting. I think a British professor called it an art. It's an art of putting all this together. I found this very interesting. Exactly what you said now, it's a philosophy, I'd say. It's not actually engineering. It's interesting because many technologies started with a military application, like the internet, for example. It started with the military first, then start going in the '80s, after the '80s, civilian. That's interesting. I'm glad you started this. How it was, that was your first leading position with the IEEE? How it feel to lead an IEEE Council?
Bob: What was my initial start within IEEE, you were saying?
Qusai: Yes. That was the first year of leadership with IEEE?
Bob: I started as an IEEE member back in the early '80s and became involved with one of their conferences called AUTOTESTCON which is co-sponsored by the Instrumentation and Measurement Society and Aerospace Electronic System Society. I became active in both the I&M Society and AES. At the I&M Society, I was the VP of Technical Operations, and then I was the vice president and then became president of I&M Society, which is when I had the concept for founding the system council. Then I became president of the Aerospace Electronic Systems Society as well, after going through a number of lower positions.
I was the treasurer of Aerospace Electronic System Society until just this year when I left that position. For 10 years or 11 years, I was the treasurer. I've been active in IEEE, in conferences. I founded a number of publications for IEEE.
Qusai: I saw some of them.
Bob: Now, actually three current journals I actually did the process of founding. The Systems Journal was the first, and that was right when we founded the Systems Council. It now publishes over 6,000 pages a year and is doing quite well. Also founded several conferences, the International System Engineering Conference. The 17th year was just last week, as a matter of fact, up in Vancouver, British Columbia. I've been active for a while, and I still am active in AUTOTESTCON, that conference that I became active with in the '80s and is still going on.
Qusai: Thank you for all your service. What was your greatest success?
Bob: I'm sorry, sir. The what?
Qusai: What was your greatest success? How long have you been a leader for the IEEE System Council?
Bob: I founded the council in 2005 and became its first president, and then held varying positions in the council. I became president again about eight years later. I've been president twice of the council, and I'm still the council treasurer.
The Success Story
Qusai: Thank you for doing this.
Bob: It's been a joy to promote the discipline of system engineering because it's a very new discipline and not everybody understands it. System engineering is-
Qusai: I don't want to interrupt, but I was going to ask about that before we go deep into that, we want our audience or readers to know what system engineering is. Do you mind defining for me system engineering?
Bob: That's what I was just about to do? System engineering is quite unique in that there are no formulas to follow, such as in radar engineering or computer system engineering, et cetera. System engineering is a philosophy of design engineering in which you consider the entire product from the very inception at the front end, what is it supposed to do, what does it really have to do, to the very end of the product through maintaining the product once built, updating it as necessary, and eventually, disposal.
System engineering is the philosophy of engineering that says, when you design something, no matter what it is, even a process for banking, for example, you must design it from the very start to satisfy the need of the user and the customer throughout its entire usage, throughout its entire life cycle, including shipping it to the site where you're going to use it and storing it, then eventually using it, and then again, maintaining it, updating it, and then eventual disposal. It's a philosophy of design. It's not a methodology of how to design a radar system, it's a philosophy of how to design anything, is what system engineering-
[crosstalk]
Qusai: It's interesting. I think a British professor called it an art. It's an art of putting all this together. I found this very interesting. Exactly what you said now, it's a philosophy, I'd say. It's not actually engineering. It's interesting because many technologies started with a military application, like the internet, for example. It started with the military first, then start going in the '80s, after the '80s, civilian. That's interesting. I'm glad you started this. How it was, that was your first leading position with the IEEE? How it feel to lead an IEEE Council?
Bob: What was my initial start within IEEE, you were saying?
Qusai: Yes. That was the first year of leadership with IEEE?
Bob: I started as an IEEE member back in the early '80s and became involved with one of their conferences called AUTOTESTCON which is co-sponsored by Instrumentation and Measurement Society and Aerospace Electronic System Society. I became active in both the I&M Society and AES. At the I&M Society, I was the VP of Technical Operations, and then I was the vice president and then became president of I&M Society, which is when I had the concept for founding the system council. Then I became president of the Aerospace Electronic Systems Society as well, after going through a number of lower positions.
I was the treasurer of Aerospace Electronic System Society until just this year when I left that position. For 10 years or 11 years, I was the treasurer. I've been active in IEEE, in conferences. I founded a number of publications for IEEE.
Qusai: I saw some of them.
Bob: Now, actually three current journals I actually did the process of founding. The Systems Journal was the first, and that was right when we founded the Systems Council. It now publishes over 6,000 pages a year and is doing quite well. Also founded several conferences, the International System Engineering Conference. The 17th year was just last week, as a matter of fact, up in Vancouver, British Columbia. I've been active for a while, and I still am active in AUTOTESTCON, that conference that I became active with in the '80s and is still going on.
Qusai: Thank you for all your service. What was your greatest success?
Bob: I'm sorry, sir. The what?
Qusai: What was your greatest success? How long have you been a leader for the IEEE System Council?
Bob: I founded the council in 2005 and became its first president, and then held varying positions in the council. I became president again about eight years later. I've been president twice of the council, and I'm still the council treasurer.
Why Become an Apprentice of the IEEE Systems Council?
Qusai: For those who are not participating now, why they should participate? Do you have a message for them?
Bob: Any design environment will benefit from knowledge of systems engineering because it's a philosophy of how to design a successful system. Activity relative to systems engineering is going to benefit you no matter what you're doing for IEEE. No matter if you are a designer of any type of electronic system, of transportation systems, of vehicles, of radars, of communication systems, of antennas, no matter what it is, you will benefit from the principles of system engineering. Your designs will be better. They will be more successful.
It's a good discipline to try to foster throughout the design environment. IEEE is all about designing things for the benefit of humanity and its members, as you know.
Qusai: I was reading something, I think it's an IEEE access, about how your participation or your leadership to the Systems Council helped actually your employers, not individuals, as an employer. Could you talk about that, please?
Bob: Yes. Back in, when I first started the focus on system engineering in the defense world, it helped my company become a better company. It made them realize that we needed systems engineering. What I found, and I'm also an adjunct professor of system engineering at a university, and my students find that when they are able to tell potential employers that they have had basics of system engineering, the employers are always more inclined to want to hire them because they're starting to recognize that knowledge of system engineering principles is a really good thing in the design environment. It's become recognized that if you understand system engineering, you're going to be a better engineer. Employers like that.
Qusai: I like that. That's really-- I always call for engineers to join the IEEE, and there was always challenge. What's your message for those people why to join the IEEE? You been [unintelligible 00:23:45] for a long time.
Bob: IEEE is a good home for engineers because of the networking capability that exists to meet others involved in your field to easily.