Events Calendar

AME Seminar

Speaker: Gen(ret) Ellen Pawlikowski, USC

Talk Title: Learning From the Past

Abstract: Department of Defense acquisition programs are the means that new capabilities are developed, acquired and fielded to support military operations. These programs can span decades as they often include evolving complex systems of systems. New practitioners (program managers and engineers) tend to get overwhelmed and at the same time discover that the tools to apply such information to their current task are deficient or lacking. In todays world of ever growing complexity and increasingly compressed timelines, there is seldom enough time to gain the depth and breadth of experience needed. This recognition provides the impetus to leverage case studies as an experience accelerator. Case studies provide tools for acquisition practitioners to learn from the experience of those program managers and systems engineers that preceded them. This presentation provides a foundation for conducting and using case studies in systems engineering and management.

Biography: General (retired) Ellen M Pawlikowski is an independent consultant providing expertise on strategic planning, program management, logistics, and research and development. She is the Judge Widney Professor at the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. She serves on the Boards of Directors for the Raytheon Company, Intelsat SA, Applied Research Associates, and SRI International. Ellen Pawlikowski was the third woman to achieve the rank of General in the US Air Force. In her last assignment, she served as Commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The command employs some 80,000 people and manages $60 billion annually, providing the Air Force with research and development, life cycle systems management, test and evaluation, installation support, depot maintenance and supply chain management.

She entered the Air Force in 1978 as a distinguished graduate of the ROTC program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ. She then attended the University of California at Berkeley as a Fannie and John Hertz Foundation fellow and received a Doctorate in chemical engineering in December 1981.

General Pawlikowski's career has spanned a wide variety of technical management, leadership and staff positions. She commanded five times as a general officer, commanding the MILSATCOM Systems Wing, the AF element of the National Reconnaissance Office, AF Research Laboratory, the Space and Missile Systems Center, and Air force Materiel Command. She also served as the program director and program executive officer for several multibillion dollar military system acquisitions.

General Pawlikowski is nationally recognized for her leadership and technical management acumen. Among her recognitions are the Women In Aerospace Life Time Achievement Award, the NDIA Peter B Teets Award, and the Air Force Association Executive Management Award. She is a Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a Fellow of the Directed Energy Professional Society, and a member of the National Academy of Engineers.

Ellen Pawlikowski was born in Bloomfield, NJ and currently resides in Macon, GA.

More Info: https://usc.zoom.us/j/94332388706

Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/94332388706

Location: Online event

WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/94332388706

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Tessa Yao

Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/94332388706