Hello from the Department of Systems Engineering (DSE) at West Point!

    The 2022 General Donald R. Keith Memorial Capstone Conference (GDRKMCC-22) provided a forum for undergraduate students of systems engineering and related disciplines to present their capstone work to professionals, scholars, clients, and fellow students from other colleges and universities. The conference included 53 presentations from Cadets from the United States Military Academy and United States Air Force Academy, Midshipmen from the United States Naval Academy, and students from George Mason University, SUNY Binghamton University, and Wichita State University. This year’s conference showed that we have, and are developing, some of the most consequential thinkers in the Army, and in the world.  DSE is continually involved in solving difficult problems, and our capstone conference provided an opportunity for our faculty and cadets to showcase their important research in support of that effort. 

    Every team that participated did a tremendous job in preparing their presentations and engaging during the question and answer sessions. We are proud to share the winners of each track and the SISE best paper awards with you below.

    The 2023 General Donald R. Keith Memorial Capstone Conference will be held in person at the United States Military Academy on 4 May 2023. This is a regional conference of the Society for Industrial and Systems Engineering (SISE), which published the Proceedings of the 2022 General Donald R. Keith Memorial Capstone Conference. Top papers will be published in the Society's scholarly journal, the Industrial and Systems Engineering Review. Details for the 2023 Capstone Conference will be posted in the 2023 Fall academic semester.

2022 Capstone Conference Program

Capstone Conference Program and Welcome Packet

Projected 2023 Conference Deadlines

• Papers due:                                     28 March 2023
• Reviews back to authors:        11 April 2023
• Registration deadline:               19 April 2023
• Final papers due:                          21 April 2023
• Capstone Conference:                4 May 2023

Conference tracks (subject area). 

Decision Analysis (DA): 

• Projects that evaluate complex non-repetitive decision opportunities by examining values, uncertain variables, preferences, and alternatives

Modeling and Simulation (MS): 

• Modeling methods and applications for representing static or dynamic characteristics of systems in order to support effective systems design or improvement.

Modeling and Simulation for Defense Applications (MSDA): 

• Modeling methods and applications for representing static or dynamic characteristics of systems in order to support effective systems design or improvement, specifically for military applications.

Process Modeling and Analysis (PMA): 

• Projects that use methods and applications addressing the modeling of partially ordered activities to achieve a goal for systems existing in the real world (process analysis) or not (processing engineering), to support effective design or systems improvement.

Project and Engineering Management (PEM): 

• Applications of engineering principles to operations, project management, and business practice. Presentations include engineering surrounding product development, manufacturing, construction design engineering, industrial engineering, technology, production, or any other field that employs personnel who perform an engineering function.

Systems Design (SD): 

• Projects from engineering and problem solving that feature significant levels of systems design. This includes notable examples of requirements specification, functional analysis, systems architecture, model-based systems engineering, or the use of modeling and simulation in the design process.

Systems Design for Defense Applications (SDDA): 

• Defense-related projects that feature significant levels of systems design. This includes notable examples of requirements specification, functional analysis, systems architecture, model-based systems engineering, or the use of modeling and simulation in the design process.

General Engineering (GE): 

• Projects that apply general engineering principles and processes to meeting operational needs and solving problems. Emphasis is on correctly defining requirements and then applying engineering principles to solve them.

Honors (H): 

• Research performed in the pursuit of an honors degree at the United States Military Academy. This includes a presentation by a single cadet as well as review of an honors thesis.

Hollis Award: 

• Presenters in this track will compete for the coveted Hollis Award for excellence in Operations Research. All submitted papers will be evaluated for the opportunity to compete for the Hollis Award.