engineering

Olivier de Weck

Olivier de Weck is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Olivier de Weck rather than just read about it. In short: Olivier L. de Weck (born 1968) is the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has authored and co-authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications.

Key takeaways

Olivier de Weck belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Olivier de Weck to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Olivier de Weck from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Olivier L. de Weck (born 1968) is the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has authored and co-authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications. He is a Fellow of the INCOSE and a Fellow of the AIAA. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. From 2013-2018 de Weck served as the Editor-in-Chief for Systems Engineering, the leading journal of INCOSE. He is best known for contributions to the fields of Systems Engineering, Design optimization, and Space Logistics, where together with colleagues from JPL he coined the term Interplanetary Supply Chain. More recently he has become active in the field of Remote Sensing.

Education and research de Weck earned a Dipl. Ing. degree in Industrial Engineering from ETH Zurich in 1993. Between 1993 and 1997 he worked as a liaison engineer and engineering program manager on the Swiss F/A-18 fighter aircraft program in St. Louis, MO. He earned both a S.M. degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1999 and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Systems in 2001 from MIT. His doctoral dissertation titled "Multivariable isoperformance methodology for precision opto-mechanical systems" was supervised by David W. Miller who served as NASA's Chief Technologist. de Weck joined the MIT faculty in 2001 where he has a dual appointment with the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). He previously served on the National Research Council Committee on Cost Growth in NASA Earth and Space Science Missions (2009–2010) and as the Executive Director of the MIT Production in the Innovation Economy (PIE) Study (2010–2013). Between 2011-2016 he served as the co-director of the Center for Complex Engineering Systems at KACST and MIT. As of 2015 he serves as the faculty director of the MIT-Switzerland program. de Weck leads the Strategic Engineering Research Group in the MIT Engineering Systems Laboratory which emphasizes "the process of architecting and designing complex systems and products in a way that deliberately accounts for future uncertainty and context in order to maximize their lifecycle value." Past research has been sponsored by organizations such as NASA, DARPA, Xerox, and BP.

Contributions de Weck developed or supervised development of a number of methods and tools including:

Isoperformance method to find performance-invariant designs Adaptive Weighted Sum (AWS) method to find equidistant Pareto optimal solutions Delta Design Structure Matrix (ΔDSM) to quantify the impact of new technology on an underlying system Time Expanded Decision Networks to make decisions under uncertainty Generalized Multi-commodity Network Flows (GMCNF) to find optimal resource routing through geospatially distributed infrastructure SpaceNet space logistics discrete event simulation software From 2017-2018 de Weck took a two-year professional leave of absence from MIT to serve as the Senior Vice President for Technology Planning and Roadmapping at Airbus in Toulouse, France. His recent research focuses on long term Technology Planning and Roadmapping.

Awards and honors INCOSE Systems Engineering Journal Best Paper of the Year (2007) Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising (2010) INCOSE Systems Engineering Journal Best Paper of the Year (2010) International Conference on Engineering Design 2011 Reviewer's Favorite Paper Award (2011) Honorable Mention, American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (PROSE Award) in Engineering and Technology (2011) INCOSE Systems Engineering Journal Best Paper of the Year (2020)

Selected works de Weck co-authored a book presenting the argument for Engineering Systems as a new discipline:

de Weck, Olivier L.; Roos, Daniel; Magee, Christopher L. (October 2011). Engineering Systems: Meeting Human Needs in a Complex Technological World. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262016704. He appears in videos discussing the need for and technical challenges of interplanetary space exploration:

"Humanity as a multi-planet species". Adapt & Thrive: TEDxLakeGeneva. 14 May 2014. "Interplanetary Space Logistics: Enabling New Frontiers". MIT TechTV. 11 September 2007. and is quoted in media coverage of research to use planetary bodies such as the moon as intermediate in-situ sources of propellants and other resources:

Jennifer Chu (14 Oct 2015). "To save on weight, a detour to the moon is the best route to Mars". MIT News. Retrieved 22 Nov 2015. Bruce Dorminey (16 Oct 2015). "NASA's Human Mars Missions Could First Fuel Up Near Moon". Forbes. Retrieved 22 Nov 2015. He has also published many articles in professional and academic publications such as:

de Weck, Olivier (1 June 2009). "What To Pack For Mars: A successful mission requires a well-planned supply strategy". Retrieved 10 June 2015. de Weck, O. L.; Neufville, R. D.; Chaize, M. (2004). "Staged Deployment of Communications Satellite Constellations in Low Earth Orbit". Journal of Aerospace Computing, Information, and Communication. 1 (3): 119. doi:10.2514/1.6346. de Weck, O. L.; Jones, M. B. (2006). "Isoperformance: Analysis and design of complex systems with desired outcomes". Systems Engineering. 9: 45–61. doi:10.1002/sys.20043. S2CID 6625099.

References

External links MIT Engineering Systems Laboratory Olivier de Weck's Google Scholar Citations

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Olivier de Weck

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Olivier de Weck claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Olivier de Weck before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Olivier de Weck ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Olivier de Weck

In research: Olivier de Weck appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Olivier de Weck in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Olivier de Weck is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1968 births, ETH Zurich alumni, Living people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Olivier de Weck outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Olivier de Weck in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Olivier de Weck means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Olivier de Weck out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Olivier de Weck in simple terms?

Why does Olivier de Weck matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Olivier de Weck?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Olivier de Weck.