Stevens Doctoral and Student ISEF Awards

for Promising Research in Systems Engineering and Integration.

Stevens Doctoral Award

A Joint Award Given by INCOSE and Stevens Institute of Technology

We had a significant impact in 2024 on the SE community, contributing to advancing education, professional development, and process innovation in several industries. Through research grants and scholarships, the Foundation helped engineers to tackle complex global challenges.

A core component of the Foundation’s mission is recognizing and supporting innovative research in systems engineering. The INCOSE Foundation and Stevens Institute presented the Stevens Doctoral Award to two outstanding researchers.  Recipients were awarded a $5,000 grant, a commemorative plaque, and recognition at the 2025 INCOSE International Workshop as follows:

StephanieCharoChiesi

Stephanie Charo Chiesi (Tucson, AZ) - Award for her doctoral research to bridge the gap between research and implementation in advancing the practice of SE.

Stephanie’s research looks at how digital engineering can shorten project timelines. Companies and government agencies are adopting digital methods to update their systems. A significant part of this is creating connected data environments to increase design speed. However, it may also uncover hidden issues, and we do not yet have a quick way to see how digital engineering affects project speed or efficacy. 

Her approach uses modeling and simulation to abstract the development stages and enable measuring effort and time in different digital engineering scenarios. This work can find problems in decision-making caused by digital changes and help evaluate new processes that cannot be quickly attempted in real life.

HosseinTaramsari

Hossein Taramsari (Jersey City, NJ) – Award for his original approach to addressing sustainability in product design. Doctoral research was undertaken to enable a comprehensive framework for integrating multiple dimensions of sustainability into the product design process.

Hossein's research addresses the current limitations of sustainable design practices and offers a structured methodology for assessing and improving sustainability outcomes. By incorporating system thinking and system dynamic techniques, the research introduces new perspectives on addressing sustainability challenges. 

The developed framework is to provide a deeper understanding of sustainable design systems’ complex interactions and feedback loops. The multi-domain matrix (MDM) and automated life cycle assessment (LCA) tools offer enhanced decision-support capabilities. These tools enable designers to quantify the impacts of design decisions on sustainability and make informed choices that balance environmental, social, and economic factors.

Student ISEF Awards

Since 2009, INCOSE has participated in the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), offering special awards to outstanding high school students. The Bill Ewald Socio-technical Award of $1000 awards projects that demonstrates a global impact and includes a 1-yr free student membership to INCOSE and free virtual admission to the next IS.  ISEF 2024 awardees:

  • Robin Dao from Exeter, NH, USA [Micro RNA223-Biomarker Based Exponential Rolling Circle Amplification CRISPR -Cas12a System for Disease Detection and COPD Diagnostics] developed a low-cost way to detect obstructive pulmonary disease. 
  • Jeslyn Tan from Sydney, Australia [UpLift Mobility: Robotic Lift to Elevate Frequently Falling Individuals] developed a lift that can be used by frequently falling individuals as they age, providing them with more independence.
  • Diana Martynova from Los Gatos, CA, USA, the Bill Ewald Socio-technical awardee [Securing Global Food: Biopolymers, Cryptography, and Visual Transformers for Affordable Anti-Counterfeit Seed Protection] was inspired after learning 50% of the seeds sold in Africa are counterfeit, lowering germination rates leading to global food shortages, starvation, and political unrest.

isefawards
 
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