IEEE WIE AG Schenectady is going to organize WIE Distinguished Lecture (virtual webinar) on "Human System Engineering Initiatives: From Human Views to Human Readiness Levels" on 5 June 2026, Friday, 12-1 pm EDT. The speaker is Holly A. H. Handley, PhD, PE, the Interim Dean of the Interdisciplinary Schools and a Professor in the Engineering Management and System Engineering Department of Old Dominion University (ODU).

This talk discusses the role of Human System Engineering within the System Engineering discipline. It describes two initiatives that are enabling better integration of humans and systems. The Human Views comprise a system architecture viewpoint that provides a perspective on the human roles, activities, and information flows required by a complex system. The Human Readiness Levels assess the degree to which human-focused requirements are incorporated into design decisions and the readiness of a system to interact with its human operator. Together these two efforts encourage System Engineering for the total system by supporting a comprehensive integration of the human component into the systems engineering effort, which is critical to the design, development, and operation of successful systems. Current standards and applications of both initiatives will be included.

with Shin Young Jeong, faculty member of the Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research, University of Central Florida.

Date/Time: Tuesday, June 16, 6pm - 7 pm Pacific Time

Abstract:

The transition to renewable energy has increased the need for reliable, large-scale storage to balance intermittent generation with continuous demand. Thermal energy storage (TES) offers a cost-effective solution by capturing excess energy as heat and releasing it when needed, supporting long-duration storage and grid stability. Unlike batteries, TES can scale to industrial levels, provide process heat, and deliver electricity through power cycles. Recent advances use abundant, low-cost materials such as sand-like particles serving as both heat transfer media and storage. This talk will highlight emerging TES technologies and their role in a resilient, decarbonized energy future.

Abstract:

The rapid expansion and increasing complexity of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations demands new digital twins for accurate predictive network performance evaluation. Modern LEO networks feature highly dynamic topologies, dense satellite deployments, and integration with terrestrial 5G/6G systems — that well-exceed current open-source/broadly available simulation tool capabilities. A high-fidelity Digital Twin model should capture real-time mobility considerations for time-varying LEO-to-earth downlink, emerging regulatory considerations (e.g. spectrum allocation driven coexistence/interference), orbit-aware inter-satellite coordination aspects, to feed into future AI-driven resource optimization architectural solutions. This talk will start by pointing out deficiencies in current 3GPP TR 38.111 and 6G-NTN EU Doppler spread models and its consequent impact downstream on NTN Downlink PHY Layer 1 processing and highlight ongoing efforts via ns-3-leo full stack network simulator at UW Fundamentals of Networking Lab (https://wp.ece.uw.edu/funlab/).

Speaker:

Prof. Sumit Roy

Guest Scientist, Nokia Bell Labs (Radio Systems Research)

 sumit.1.roy@nokia.com

Dept. of Electrical & Comp. Eng

U. Washington, Seattle

 sroy@uw.edu

Sumit Roy (Fellow IEEE) received the B. Tech. (EE) degree from the IIT Kanpur in 1983, and M. S. (1985) and Ph. D. (1988) degrees from the University of California (Santa Barbara) in Electrical & Comp. Engineering as well as an M. A. in Statistics and Applied Probability (1988). He has been a faculty member in Electrical & Computer Engineering (UW) since 1998 where he was appointed to a Distinguished Term Professorship for Integrated Systems (2014-19) in recognition of his scholarly accomplishments. He continues to direct the Fundamentals of Networking Laboratory (FUNLaB) https://wp.ece.uw.edu/funlab/, the long-standing maintainer/manager of the Open Source network simulator ns-3 project (www.nsnam.org), recognized via the ACM SIGCOMM Networking Systems Award 2020 for ``development of a networking system that has had a significant impact on the world of computer networking” https://www.sigcomm.org/content/sigcomm-networking-systems-award. His expertise spans analysis/design and prototyping of future wireless communication systems/networks: next-Gen wireless LANs, 5G New Radio and beyond 5G/6G standards, with an emphasis on terrestrial and airborne (vehicular) applications, multi-standard inter-networking/coexistence and dynamic spectrum access solutions for spectrum sharing.

He spent 2001-03 on academic leave at Intel Wireless Technology Lab as a Senior Researcher/Standards Architect engaged in systems architecture and standards development for ultra-wideband systems (Wireless PANs) and next generation high-speed wireless LANs (802.11n). He was elevated to IEEE Fellow in 2007 for “contributions to multi-user communications theory and cross-layer design of wireless networking standards”. He served as Program Lead for Innovate Beyond 5G, the R&D component of OUSD R&E’s 5G-to-xG Initiative (2020-22) [now renamed FutureG Office https://rt.cto.mil/future-home], where managed a RD&P portfolio focused on dual-use of commercial (5G) technologies for Federal use cases and oversaw 3GPP contributions. He is currently Distinguished Lecturer for IEEE Future Networks Technical Community (https://futurenetworks.ieee.org/) and IEEE Comm. Society (https://www.comsoc.org/engagement-community/distinguished-lecturers) and serves as Assoc. E-i-C for IEEE Comm. Standards Magazine (https://www.comsoc.org/publications/magazines/ieee-communications-standards-magazine/editorial-board).