Kishore Pochiraju Takes the Helm of New Systems and Enterprises Department

Longtime Stevens faculty member leverages leadership experience in expansion of Schaefer School

Kishore Pochiraju has worn many hats since he started at Stevens in 1995. Notably, he served as the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies in the Schaefer School of Engineering and Science from 2017-2022. He has been the director of multiple labs, and he has been recognized as Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Fellow of the American Society for Composites.

Now, Pochiraju is overseeing the transition of Stevens' former School of Systems and Enterprises to become the 10th department within the Schaefer School. The announcement of the change came during the 2023-24 academic year and Pochiraju was officially appointed chair of the Department of Systems and Enterprises on Sept. 1, 2024.

Fortunately for Pochiraju, his experience in the Department of Mechanical Engineering has significantly simplified the move. His research focuses on computational and AI-driven design and integration methodologies for complex systems, model-based systems engineering and developing digital twins for autonomous systems.

"I've always been drawn to systems thinking. Most of the work I did in mechanical engineering was very much systems oriented," he said. "My research is typically at the systems scale specifically with robotics systems. I also do a lot of software work , so that's a very familiar field for me."

Bolstering existing systems strengths

Stevens has a strong reputation in the systems engineering community and its tentacles touch on many of the most important issues facing society today, including artificial intelligence (AI), healthcare and space exploration.

The department offers three undergraduate programs, five master's programs and three doctoral programs. Pochiraju is pleased with the programs and the effective way in which Stevens incorporates them via multiple modalities - in person, online and corporate. "My first order of business is to integrate everything into a sharp focus on our mission to deliver a world class systems and industrial engineering education," he said.

In Pochiraju's opinion, there are two areas in which the department really excels and from which it should only further benefit from the move to the Schaefer School: the department's longtime association with the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) as well as its corporate education reputation.

Founded in 2008 and led by Stevens, SERC is a national resource providing a critical mass of systems engineering researchers. SERC is a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) of the U.S. Department of Defense, leveraging the research and expertise of faculty, researchers and students from more than 20 collaborating universities.

"We have access to the entire nation through SERC, which can help faculty make vital connections," said Pochiraju. "We have six faculty working on topics such as healthcare, health systems and life science systems. For us to access the SERC network, I don't think any other university has that privilege."

On the corporate side, the department currently has partnerships with some titans of industry, including but not limited to Bank of America, Lockheed Martin, Pfizer, Verizon and Northrup Grumman.

"We have a good reputation in the systems world. We do corporate education extremely well," he said. "The last three people I met from a reputed aerospace corporation who work at different departments of the company, they all know Stevens from our corporate education offerings."

Kishore Pochiraju

Building the future

Looking forward, Pochiraju believes the success of the department will largely rely on retaining accomplished faculty members while simultaneously recruiting additional talent.

The Department of Systems and Enterprises currently boasts a diverse compilation of faculty with expertise in multiple areas such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, public policy and more. Its adjunct pool of more than 40 decorated business leaders provides credibility to offerings throughout the department.

However, there is always room for more bright minds. "Hiring faculty is important for us and that's a challenge across the board," said Pochiraju. That's an area in which he believes the resources and reputation of the School of Engineering and Science will "help immensely."

Otherwise, Pochiraju wants to see the department focus on increasingly popular areas such as digital engineering, as well as increasing its physical footprint with things such as connected cities like professor Philip Odonkor is working on for his National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award; and Amro Farid's upcoming project with rural New Hampshire's power grid. "You'd be surprised how much attention you get when you have something physical to show people instead of a piece of software," he said.

The most important thing is that he gets to oversee all this in a place he considers home.