Vision
“I am an Educator because Education enables Freedom. I am a Systems Engineer because Systems Engineering provides the Technology that enables Societies to grow, prosper, and remain free. I am a Systems Engineering Educator because as such I can do both and have fun at the same time.”
I’ve been using the self-descriptive statement above for some time now. It came about when someone asked me why do I do what I do? That was a great question, one we should all ask ourselves – why do we do what we do? I think the general answer is we do things to make a difference, to have a purpose. Some might say we do things to make a living, to survive. Some might say we do things to have fun, enjoy ourselves. I ask why can’t we do all three – make a difference, make a living, and have fun?
I am very fortunate to have a position at a university where I can do all three. Yes, this seems very simplistic and there are a lot more that goes into each of the three, but making a difference, making a living, and having fun pretty much captures it. It is also very challenging to strike a good balance among the three. This brings me to why I support and participate in INCOSE.
In my vision, INCOSE is a globally recognized professional society that enables their members to do exactly those three things—make a difference, make a living, and enjoy their work. Participating in INCOSE events, sharing our knowledge, and putting that knowledge into action enables us to make a difference. The wealth of knowledge available in the membership of INCOSE is immeasurable! We can all tap into that network, create a synergistic effect, create more knowledge, and make a difference that we can’t do alone. As a Director at Large, I would advocate for initiatives where we can nourish, grow, and enhance that global network and the knowledge that it creates for our members and the SE community at large to put into action.
My day-to-day job as Director of Systems Engineering Programs at WPI is where I make my living, but I depend on resources from and our partnership with INCOSE to do the best job. We require all of our systems engineering graduate students who are not already members to join INCOSE as CAB Associates. We require all of our SE students to obtain a copy of the INCOSE SE Handbook 5th Edition for use in our flagship Concepts course. We also encourage all of our SE students to acquire and use the many other references that INCOSE offers such as the Competency Framework and SEBoK. Back in 2019, I worked with the SE faculty and WPI leadership to sign an Academic Equivalency agreement with INCOSE. We were one of the first 12 schools to do so. This program has been very beneficial to both WPI and INCOSE. As of May 2025, we have submitted 300 names to INCOSE for the Knowledge Exam waiver for the certifications. As a Director at Large, I would advocate for initiatives where we can continue to enhance the availability of these resources and partnership programs with universities, industry, and governments on a global scale. The more INCOSE is globally recognized as the leader in creating and disseminating SE knowledge to enable action, the better we all become.
I have always believed that what you get out of an organization depends on what you put into it. I have enjoyed what I have done and continue to do for INCOSE – I’ve had fun! I enjoy participating in the IW and IS events. I enjoy traveling to different venues around the world and meeting new people and learning about and interacting with different cultures. I enjoy the CAB dinners and the IS dinners. I enjoy meeting new people at the events and I have on several occasions participated in the New Members sessions. I enjoyed my time as a Founding Coach for the Technical Leadership Institute. I’ve met a lot of great people, our future leaders. I enjoyed co-chairing the Competency Working Group where we developed the INCOSE SE Competency Framework. I enjoyed my service as the first Services Director and then Associate Director Education and Training. I enjoyed managing the development and deployment of the Professional Development Portal. In every one of these positions, I always asked how can we better serve the members of INCOSE? What is our value proposition?
In a related area, INCOSE does well on recruiting new members, but after a year or so, they don’t renew. I’m wondering if they don’t enjoy their membership. What can we do as a professional society to make membership more enjoyable and beneficial? How can we make our members feel more involved and appreciated?
As a Director at Large, I will advocate for making INCOSE more valuable, beneficial, and enjoyable for our members of all types and CAB Associates. As leaders we must strive to ensure INCOSE continues to provide value to our members and the global SE community.
Together, we can build a future where systems engineering empowers innovative and sustainable progress on a global scale, and where every INCOSE member can make a difference, enhance their career, and enjoy the journey.
Biography
Dr. Don Gelosh is the Director of Systems Engineering Programs at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). He is responsible for leading, growing, and developing the various Systems Engineering programs delivered through WPI’s Graduate and Professional Studies organization. Dr. Gelosh has held this position since 2012.
Dr. Gelosh has over 49 years of systems engineering leadership experience from the US Air Force, government, industry, and academia. Before coming to WPI, Dr. Gelosh was Deputy Director for Workforce Development for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Systems Engineering at the Pentagon. In this role, he managed the education, training, and experience certification requirements for over 49,000 systems engineering professionals in the Department of Defense.
In previous assignments, he was lead systems engineer for communications and payload integration on NASA’s Vehicle Integration and Test Team supporting the Space Shuttle, including the Return to Flight Mission, STS 25 and the first DoD mission, STS 26, after the Challenger tragedy. After that, he taught Electrical and Computer Engineering at the USAF Academy, he served as Deputy Department Head for Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology, and he then served as Dean of Learning and Technology at the National Defense University.
Dr. Gelosh has been a member of INCOSE since 2007 and has held several leadership positions. His first major contribution to INCOSE was leading the team that developed and deployed the Acquisition Extension for the CSEP certification. He served as the Master of Ceremonies for IS2010 in Chicago, IL and IS2014 in Henderson, NV. At IS2015 in Seattle, WA, he became one of the founding coaches for the Technical Leadership Institute. For several years, he led the Competency Working Group to produce the new Systems Engineering Competency Framework that was awarded Product of the Year for 2018. Dr. Gelosh also served as the first Services Director for INCOSE starting in 2019. In this position, and in his follow-up position as Associate Director Education and Training, he managed the creation, design, development, and deployment of the Professional Development Portal, which was awarded Service of the Year for 2023. Dr. Gelosh also represents WPI on the Corporate Advisory Board and is a member of the Academic Council.
Dr. Gelosh holds an INCOSE ESEP-Acquisition certification and is Defense Acquisition Corps Level III certified in Systems Engineering. Dr. Gelosh received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master’s Degree in Computer System Design from the University of Houston at Clear Lake, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The Ohio State University. Dr. Gelosh’s research areas include Technical Leadership, Experience Acceleration, Competencies and Competency Frameworks, Learning Technologies, US Federal Acquisition, and Artificial Intelligence and Learning.