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Contact Us
Dr. Ali Mostashari
Director,
COMPASS and Associate Professor (Research)
School
of Systems and Enterprises
Stevens
Institute of Technology
619 Babbio
Building, Castle Point on the Hudson
Hoboken,
NJ 07030
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Highlights
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February 2009
Complexity,
Networks and Organizations
Research
Highlight: Cognitive
Enterprises
The
ability of an enterprise to adjust the allocation of its resources and
the type or magnitude of its outputs to rapidly changing external and
internal needs and requirements is critical. It hinges on the capacity of
the enterprise to sense and/or forecast the pertinent changes,
contextualize the information, make timely decisions that affect resource
allocation and product configuration, monitor the impact of these
decisions and learn for improved future decision-making.
The goal
of this research is to explore the concept of “Cognitive Enterprises” as
a new paradigm for architecting learning and self-adaptive enterprises
that can dynamically adjust their resources, configuration and outputs to
meet the constantly changing external and internal needs and
requirements. The term Cognitive refers to the ability of the enterprise
to “learn to adapt its behavior based on experience”. Hence, Cognitive
Enterprise relies on autonomous, intelligent observation, trade-off
analysis and action accompanied by learning to allow an Enterprise to
increasingly become better at reconfiguring itself in response to change.
Learn More
December 2008
Complex
Infrastructure Systems Resiliency and Sustainability
Global Master’s in Infrastructure
Systems (GMIS) launched
The School of Systems and Enterprises and
COMPASS have launched the Global Master’s Program in Infrastructure
Systems (GMIS) as a full-time on-campus program at Stevens Institute of
Technology. Infrastructure systems are key enablers of the economic
growth and sustainability of nations and regions. Increasingly,
traditional approaches to isolated infrastructure planning and management
are facing challenges in the form of the interdependencies of
infrastructure systems, the changing nature of infrastructure investment
and the increasing realization of the challenges faces in building
resilient and sustainable infrastructure systems. GMIS is designed to provide
professionals with an interest in the design, management and
decision-making for Infrastructure Systems with the ability to tackle
complex issues facing infrastructure systems in the 21st century.
Designed as a global program, this program will draws on students from
diverse countries and backgrounds to provide a truly global educational experience.
In addition to taking courses on infrastructure systems design and
management, graduate students will be exposed to courses on systems
thinking, leadership, complex project management and engineering
economics. Students also have the option of doing an internship with a
New York/New Jersey Metropolitan Area infrastructure-related organization
during the summer semester. For more information visit the GMIS Program website
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November 2008
School of Systems and Enterprises at Stevens
Institute of Technology is awarded the Systems Engineering Research
Center (SERC)
Stevens Institute of Technology has been
recognized as the first University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) in
the United States to focus on Systems Engineering Research. This
multi-million dollar award represents the largest academic research
initiative focused in Systems Engineering in the United States and the
World. Stevens SERC joins other prestigious UARCs such as the Jet
Propulsion Lab (JPL) at Caltech and the Applied Physics Lab (APL) at John
Hopkins University in leading the advancement of fundamental research
critical to the nation and the world. COMPASS faculty played a key role
within the proposal response team. Read more about the SERC here
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October 2008
Complexity, Social Networks and Organizations
COMPASS
Presentations: Organizations as Complex Adaptive Systems (by Dr. Ali
Mostashari)
This
presentation provides an overview on organizations as complex adaptive systems
from thee distinct perspectives: Organizations as Holons, Organizations
as Social Networks and Organizations as Dynamic Systems
View/Download
Presentation
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August 2008
Complex Infrastructure Systems Resiliency and
Sustainability
1st
Annual Global Conference on
Systems and Enterprises (GCSE)
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Theme:
Critical Infrastructure Systems and Enterprises
December 2-4, 2009, Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore
Visit the GCSE Website
Dr.
Ali Mostashari, Director of COMPASS and Associate Professor of Systems Engineering
at Stevens Institute of Technology will Co-Chair the 2009 Global Conference on
Systems and Enterprises (GCSE)with Dr. Yeo Khim Teck of the Nanyang
Technological University in Singapore. GCSE is one of the only annual
conferences focusing exclusively on the convergence of complex
large-scale systems and enterprises of critical importance in society.
The theme for the GCSE 2009 conference is Critical Urban Infrastructure
Systems. Full paper submissions are due July 15, 2009. Visit the GCSE Website for more
information.
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May 2008
Complexity, Social Networks and Organizations
COMPASS White Paper Series: Virtual Teams: An Overview of
the Literature (WPS 2008-03) Authors: Anirban Ganguly and Dr. Ali
Mostashari
In the current global economy, an
organization’s ability to maintain competitive advantage in the market is
mostly determined by its ability to cope with continual technological
changes and unforeseen shifts in customers demand. Using the advancement
in IT as a primary enabler, organizations have started looking for new
forms and dynamics that will aid them to respond more rapidly to that
ever-changing customer needs and requirements. Thus, more and more
organizations are leaning towards the development of virtual teams – an
organizational form that would provide organizations with an
unprecedented level of flexibility, thereby allowing it to cater to the
rapidly changing customer requirements in an more efficient and effective
manner.
Download Paper - WPS 2008-03 (PDF)
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March 2008
Complex Infrastructure Systems Resiliency and Sustainability
COMPASS White Paper Series: Assessing
Resiliency in the U.S. National Energy Infrastructure (WPS 2008-02)
Authors: Jason Holfman and Dr. Roshanak Nilchiani
Resilience is an inherent
ability of a system to absorb a significant negative change and recover
then recover to an acceptable service level. Resilience is therefore a function of a
system’s vulnerabilities and its ability to adapt. This paper assesses the resiliency of
the United States national energy infrastructure when faced with natural
and man-made disasters. Threats
and vulnerabilities of petroleum infrastructure and availability are
examined using case studies of petroleum infrastructure in and along the
Gulf of Mexico, with emphasis on the impacts of Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita. Case studies of cascading
power failures affecting the national electrical grid either initiated or
propagated by man-made errors are also investigated and solutions for
more resilient strategies are proposed. Event tree analysis is used to
perform a risk assessment of the natural and man-made disasters as they
impact national energy infrastructure.
Areas of potential resilience will be proposed and examined paying
particular attention to those areas that can be readily implemented.
Download
Paper - WPS 2008-02 (PDF)
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February 2008
Complexity,
Social Networks and Organizations
COMPASS White Paper Series: Transforming International
Development Organizations into Agile EDGE Organizations (WPS 2008-01)
Author: Dr. Ali Mostashari
Large-scale complex international
development organizations (IDOs) are facing the 21st century with ever
increasing challenges. Many of the environmental conditions that gave
rise to the establishment of such organizations have changed dramatically
with regards to nature, form, complexity and scope. In order to be
effective, development organizations need to be responsive to emerging
needs by being able to smoothly adapt their operations and structures to
new situations. In this paper we will explore the possibility of
addressing many of these issues through applying the concepts of an Agile
EDGE organization to international development organizations. The basic
principle of an EDGE organization is one in which actors on the edges
have the information, decision-making power and agility necessary to
maximize the effectiveness of an organization’s mandate in the face of
complex, ever-changing operational conditions. In this paper we look at
the implications of EDGE transformations for IDOs.
Download Paper - WPS 2008-01 (PDF)
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January
2008
Complexity, Social Networks and Organizations
Research
Project Spotlight: Organizational Information Dynamics
The flow of diverse types of information across a variety of
hierarchical social and organizational networks and its heterogeneous
reprocessing by various nodes has a fundamental impact on organizational
learning and innovation. There have been important studies on information
flow in hierarchical social networks that have tried to explain how such
flows result in innovation. However, few existing computational models
have the conceptual and computational resolution to allow the mapping of information
dynamics (i.e. both flow and processing of information) in real-world
organizations, as it relates to organizational learning and innovation.
Furthermore to holistically understand organizational learning and
innovation we need a systemic perspective that bridges the insights from
diverse fields such as information theory, social network analysis,
enterprise architecture, and complex systems analysis under a common
analytical framework. Our research proposes to develop such an analytical
framework.
Download the full
research prospectus (PDF)
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