After a successful 2023 mini-conference that attracted over 200 registrants from across more than 30 different countries, SySTEAM is hosting its 2nd biennial mini-conference event this summer, August 14-15, 2025.
The SySTEAM mini-conference is a free, two-day online event bringing together educators, researchers, industry professionals, and other systems-minded individuals from around the globe, with an eye towards providing individuals from around the globe with the opportunity to showcase, discuss, and exchange ideas relating to the intersection between STEM/STEAM education and systems competencies. The mini-conference will feature talks & posters showcasing SySTEAM-relevant projects, efforts, and ideas from the SySTEAM community members and other members of the public, and also include opportunities for roundtable discussion and small-group discourse with other attendees.
We’re currently seeking thought-provoking contributions for our mini-conference, in the form of high-quality paper/poster presentation abstracts. Anyone and everyone is welcome to send in a submission for consideration, so long as it is on a topic that will inspire interest in interdisciplinary systems education/training and provoke further conversations. We’re hoping to accept content from wide variety of authors, running the gamut from bright-eyed early-career folks to seasoned SE veterans (and including both INCOSE and non-INCOSE members) – so if you have ideas on systems education that you want to share with the world, we want to hear from you! Mini-conference abstract submissions are accepted now through May 31.
SySTEAM's free, two-day online mini-conference is back by popular demand! This online event is an opportunity for systems-minded folks from around the globe to convene and exchange ideas relating to the intersection between STEM/STEAM education and systems thinking/systems engineering competencies, in furtherance of SySTEAM’s goal of “improving education for all students, everywhere”. Registration is now open for all who'd like to attend this two-day Zoom event, featuring a mix of conference-style talks and group discussion related to systems education and interdisciplinary STEM/STEAM education. Just click the button below to register! Registration closes August 12th, two days before the live mini-conference event.
Regardless of whether you'll be able to attend the mini-conference, you can still contribute to the SySTEAM mini-conference as one of our volunteer peer reviewers. We’ll be counting on our peer reviewers to provide quality feedback on the submissions we receive and to help ensure a robust and engaging event program. Anyone is welcome to send in a volunteer application, either along with their event registration form (https://tinyurl.com/4nn3h9u6) or via SySTEAM's volunteer reviewer program (VRP) sign-up form (linked below). STEAM educators and individuals with professional experience related to systems education are especially encouraged to volunteer. Peer reviewing of mini-conference abstract submissions will occur in June.
SySTEAM's online Discord community hub is a free, one-stop informational repository for much of SySTEAM's in-progress work and materials, and includes content such as meeting slides+minutes, community announcements, useful links and more, and provides an always-open platform for community discussion and interaction. You can join by following these steps:
Joining is free and is open to the SySTEAM community and to the general public:
Once you complete the sign-up process, you’ll be greeted with a welcome message and immediately receive full access to the entire SySTEAM communications hub. Afterwards, you can access the server at any time directly through your account (via discord.com or the Discord app) without having to use the invite link again.
Our vision is for a world where every student gets equipped with the interdisciplinary skills they need in order to succeed into today’s globalized society. SySTEAM aims to help promote a more just, equitable, and transparent approach to education in general, and interdisciplinary systems thinking/systems engineering competencies in particular, aimed at reducing disparities in educational quality, access, and competency attainment.
SySTEAM strives to improve the quality of STEAM education worldwide, for all students, by changing the way in which educators, administrators, and other relevant stakeholders place value on and leverage ST/SE skills, and by establishing a community to advocate for holistic integration of ST and SE principles and skills into existing STEAM curricula and programs.
The SySTEAM Initiative is an international and interdisciplinary volunteer effort founded on the belief that systems skills should be part of every student’s educational foundation, so that all students can have the interdisciplinary skills they need to succeed in their chosen endeavors and as global citizens. SySTEAM was established in to address widespread issues in science, technology, engineering, arts/humanities, and mathematics (STEAM) education, specifically with regards to the inclusion of interdisciplinary systems thinking (ST) and systems engineering (SE) skills in curricula. The initiative is working on developing a framework for putting these skills in every classroom – from primary school to postgraduate – and is putting together a diverse community of volunteers from across the globe to help make that happen.
We at SySTEAM believe that every student, no matter where in the world they live or what career they want to pursue, has a fundamental right to a quality education.
With the heartfelt conviction that the arts and humanities are a critical part of that interdisciplinary vision, we want to recognize the contributions those fields can offer systems engineering and systems engineering competency education as well as vice versa. We consequently encourage all individuals interested in supporting the SySTEAM vision to join our community, and welcome participants from all academic, geographic, and personal backgrounds (inclusive of individuals from both the sciences and humanities alike).
SySTEAM is committed to helping promote more just, equitable, and transparent approaches to education, and thus supports the integration and enhancement of ST/SE into STEAM education in such a manner that helps reduce disparities in educational quality, access, and competency attainment.
SySTEAM's organizational philosophy and strategy reflect this commitment, as well as alignment with a set of core values that support furtherance of the SySTEAM mission and vision.
The SySTEAM Code of Ethics sets a standard of ethical conduct for all of SySTEAM's activities.
The SySTEAM community is publicly accessible, and all of our group’s work products are released to the public, free of charge, upon completion. Our in-progress efforts and community documents are also publicly viewable via SySTEAM's open-access community hub.
Participation in SySTEAM is free and open to all who are interested in supporting the SySTEAM mission & vision. Our community welcomes diverse perspectives and actively seeks out engagement and input from a wide range of STEAM stakeholders.
The SySTEAM community prioritizes the development of implementable, useful recommendations and guidance that can benefit educators, students, and working professionals alike. Our efforts are focused on fostering practical and positive change in the world of systems competency education.
The SySTEAM community abides by the ethical standards set forth in both the SySTEAM Code of Ethics and INCOSE Code of Ethics. Our community members uphold a high standard of professional integrity, and strive to ensure SySTEAM's communal efforts remain meaningful, implementable, and positively impactful.
Interested in becoming a SySTEAM community member? SySTEAM is always actively seeking new volunteers and offers a variety of different participation options for individuals interested in engaging with the SySTEAM mission and vision. Regardless of your professional background, location, or level of commitment, there’s likely something you can contribute to SySTEAM. The following listing highlights some of SySTEAM's events and activities that take place throughout the calendar year for the benefit of SySTEAM community members and the general public.
Join the SySTEAM community in brainstorming ideas for SySTEAM's work products and discussing topics in systems competency education through SySTEAM's regularly scheduled online (Zoom) community meetings.
SySTEAM holds general body meetings (GBMs), also known as SySTEAM community meetings, on a regular basis. These meetings typically run for two hours (10AM to noon Eastern Time), and serve as small-format, discussion-driven working sessions for SySTEAM products. Each GBM working session typically has a unique theme/focus in order to stimulate new and interesting lines of discussion, and the resulting ideas, thoughts, and inputs are captured in a notes sheet for development into SySTEAM products & reports for public release.
GBMs are hosted online via Zoom and are open to all members of the public. Meetings be accessed for free after completing the Zoom registration form (bit.ly/3B8Waf7); completing the form will provide you with access to the Zoom link for the next SySTEAM GBM as well as for all other GBMs scheduled thereafter.
Unable to make it to our GBMs? You can always share & discuss SySTEAM-relevant ideas and on our Discord community hub, or otherwise participate in one of our asynchronous community-engagement efforts.
Interested in contributing to SySTEAM's efforts and the SySTEAM mission of improving the quality and accessibility of systems education resources? Want to help improve real-world technical content & resources that are in use right now, by current members of the systems engineering community? Join SySTEAM's volunteer reviewer program! Read on below to learn more, or sign up now via the button below.
The SySTEAM volunteer reviewer program (VRP) is an opportunity for interested SySTEAM community members to volunteer as peer reviewers, who are then matched with peer review opportunities where their insights and feedback are being used to help support the improvement/development of free, open-access systems education content developed by volunteer groups. Through their feedback, VRP volunteers get to make an actual difference in improving the overall quality of systems education/reference resources by the systems engineering, systems education, and STEM/STEAM communities. Learn more by reading the official SySTEAM VRP info sheet: tinyurl.com/ymynswpf.
SySTEAM & SEBoKSySTEAM is proud to have The Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK - sebokwiki.org), one of the most prominent free online systems engineering reference sources, as its first-ever external VRP coordinating partner. SySTEAM is coordinating with SEBoK to match interested volunteers with SEBoK articles identified for editorial revision/updating, and to help provide audience/reader feedback on the technical accuracy, readability, and general quality/clarity of articles undergoing revision.
SySTEAM mini-conferencesVolunteer peer reviewers also play an important role in evaluating contributed paper/poster presentations for potential inclusion in SySTEAM mini-conferences. Mini-conference abstract submissions are evaluated by volunteer peer reviewers on technical merit, quality, and relevance via a double-blind peer review process, and provide resulting feedback is used to select which presentations are accepted for inclusion in the mini-conference program.
SySTEAM welcomes input & engagement from other groups & communities working on similar or related efforts associated with STE(A)M engagement and systems competency education.
The SySTEAM Initiative is an diverse, international community, with members from across the globe bringing their unique ideas and perspectives to our discussions and working sessions. SySTEAM community members are thus encouraged to serve as advocates for interdisciplinary systems education in their own communities, where they can combine insights from SySTEAM along with their knowledge of their local communities in order to spearhead new outreach or engagement efforts that can help further the SySTEAM vision. Although SySTEAM is not in a position to be able to assist with funding, SySTEAM can potentially provide strategic assistance (feedback and guidance on outreach activities, educational materials, etc.) for outreach/engagement efforts that align with SySTEAM's core values and which support the SySTEAM mission and vision.
For more information about requesting strategic support for grassroots outreach efforts, please reach out to the SySTEAM initiative lead, Caitlyn Singam (caitlyn.singam@incose.net).
INCOSE SySTEAM is excited to announce that its next community meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 31, 2025 @ 10AM to 12PM Eastern. Please note that this is a two-hour meeting, in accordance with our current bimonthly (1 meeting per 2 months) meeting schedule.
At this meeting, we'll continue to work on developing our systems thinking (ST/SE) integration framework and expounding on our prior discussions and action items related to STEAM education and the systems competencies that we started at our workshops. If you’re interested in supporting the INCOSE SySTEAM mission of “improving education for all students, everywhere”, or otherwise in getting involved in our community, these meetings are where the magic happens. Anyone and everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend, regardless of professional affiliation or INCOSE membership status.
Please join our online community hub (info provided on our main webpage: incose.org/systeam) for more information about our prior meetings and upcoming plans.
In order to support its mission and vision, SySTEAM is working towards four key goals:
(1) development of a framework for ST/SE integration into STEAM, inclusive of recommendations for including ST/SE skills in both science and humanities classrooms alike;
(2) establishment of a committee that will advocate for adoption of the framework across the globe;
(3) generation of general guidance for companies and members of industry to engage in STEAM and support the SySTEAM vision; and
(4) a large, interdisciplinary community of collaborators, advocates, and experts whose input, suggestions, and participation will help shape SySTEAM’s product development efforts and drive the initiative forward.
Community building
SySTEAM hosts free, public events to help provide opportunities for the international systems education community to interact and collaborate with colleagues around the globe while engaging in thoughtful discussion and debate on topics relating to systems competency education. In particular, SySTEAM's mini-conference series (launched in 2023) aims to provide members of the SySTEAM community and beyond to showcase their thoughts, ideas, and projects in the realm of systems education in a condensed, online event mixing conference-style presentations with workshop-style roundtable discussions.
Framework development
SySTEAM is working towards its mission of improving education for all students, everywhere, by creating community input-driven recommendations and guidance for educators, learners, and practitioners alike who are interested in integrating interdisciplinary systems competencies into their classrooms, educational programs, and training experiences. SySTEAM's community meetings are a core aspect of its framework development efforts, and provide a valuable opportunity for SySTEAM community members to share and debate ideas during brainstorming sessions.
Supporting resource development
SySTEAM strives to support the work of outside groups developing free, accessible resources and references for systems engineering and related fields. The SySTEAM volunteer reviewer program (VRP) is a SySTEAM effort that coordinates with external resource developer organizations like the Guide to the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK) in order to match volunteers from the SySTEAM community & general public with new/revised resource content that could benefit from review to confirm readability, usability, and/or technical accuracy.
Learn more about SySTEAM's VRP, which matches volunteer peer reviewers with review opportunities supporting the development of free, open-access, volunteer-developed resources and technical related to systems education.
The proceedings from the 2023 mini-conference are now available at the following link (bit.ly/3tTYPtD) or via the button below. The linked document is a complete compendium of the papers and posters presented at the 2023 SySTEAM mini-conference. For easier viewing, please use the "bookmarks" feature in your PDF reader of choice in order to navigate through the document.
If you have questions, comments, or concerns about the SySTEAM Initiative (or simply want to say hello!), please feel free to reach out to the SySTEAM initiative lead, Caitlyn Singam, via one or more of the contact options listed below.
Email (preferred): caitlyn.singam@incose.netSySTEAM Discord: @Caitlyn Singam or @Moderator
You can also reach out to the broader SySTEAM community with questions about SySTEAM-related topics of discussion by posting in the SySTEAM Discord community hub, and/or by bringing up your question(s) during the Community Q&A segment of a SySTEAM community meeting.