A Technical History of the SEI

to the SEI on a part-time basis as a visiting scientist playing an important role as advisor on strategy.
For his service to the SEI with distinction in different capacities, including the editorship of
this report, Carnegie Mellon owes him great gratitude.
The charter evolved and changed over the years to respond to changes in the environment in accord
with the sponsoring organizations, on the watch of the following directors: Larry Druffel
(1986-1996), Stephen E. Cross (1996-2002), Angel Jordan (Acting Director in 2003), and Paul
Nielsen (2004-to date).
Over the three decades of its existence, the SEI has made many technical contributions to software
engineering for which we all can be justifiably proud. The SEI has a track record of leadership
in software engineering that has enabled the DoD to take advantage of technology improvements.
The report shows clearly that the SEI has not only had impact on specific DoD programs,
but has provided leadership to the broader computing community that has brought further development
that benefits the DoD. The SEI has also contributed greatly to defining software engineering
as a discipline. With its actions and works, it has demonstrated the importance of technology
transition. Further, it has demonstrated that having a collection of software experts familiar with
research and technology trends, and becoming familiar with DoD needs, can develop technology
solutions to satisfy those anticipated needs.
The SEI offers an opportunity that is unique. The DoD challenged the university community to
formulate an approach to define the profession of software engineering and offered to fund the response
to the challenge. CMU accepted the challenge. What the DoD asks in return is that the SEI
focus on those software engineering problem areas that plague the DoD.
Although the SEI is not the lone player in that endeavor, many of our peers recognize that they
have a stake in the outcome and are motivated to help, whether out of commitment to the profession,
because of a personal desire for recognition, or simply to influence the SEI’s thinking along
the lines important to that contributor. Consequently, we not only have an interesting and exciting
challenge, we have immediate access to leaders in our profession. In adopting the approach to
providing leadership in achieving consensus, we thereby encourage the community to participate
actively in our endeavors, making them our partners.
CMU/SEI-2016-SR-027 | SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE | CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY
Distribution Statement A: Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited
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