Tolk Co-authors Textbook: 'Intelligence-based Systems Engineering'

Old Dominion University's Andreas Tolk, a world-renowned expert in interdisciplinary approaches to modeling and simulation, has co-edited a textbook about the theory and practice of these approaches.

Tolk, associate professor of engineering management and systems engineering in ODU's Batten College of Engineering and Technology, co-edited "Intelligence-based Systems Engineering" with Professor Lakhmi Jain from the University of South Australia, Adelaide.

The book is Volume 10 in Springer's Intelligent Systems Series of texts. It features a group of internationally recognized experts on intelligent systems, systems engineering, and modeling and simulation to show the potential of combining these technologies.

"One of the focal points of my research is to really establish that modeling and simulation is a discipline, not just a tool," Tolk said. "My research focuses more on answering questions like: What are the underlying assumptions and constraints of modeling and simulation? Where can you really apply modeling and simulation, and where should we look for alternative solutions?"

Among the authors who contributed to the book are three ODU faculty members: Chuck Keating, professor of engineering management and director of ODU's National Centers for System of Systems Engineering; Andres Sousa-Poza, associate professor of engineering management; and Saikou Diallo, senior project scientist at ODU's Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center.

Tolk, who has been at ODU since 2002, was recognized in 2010 with the first-ever Technical Merit Award by the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO).

SISO, an international organization dedicated to the promotion of modeling and simulation interoperability, lauded Tolk for "being at the forefront of modeling and simulation scientific thought and practice for the past 10 years" in a number of diverse fields.

"Intelligence-based Systems Engineering" shows the need to apply semantic methods, intelligent agents, and modeling and simulation services together to enable the next breakthrough in systems engineering, from the academic view of universities to the application view of industry experts.

The next book in the Springer Series, "Ontology, Epistemology, and Teleology of Modeling and Simulation: Philosophical Foundations for Intelligent Modeling and Simulation Systems," has already been commissioned and should be finalized in the summer of 2012. Tolk and Jain will once again serve as co-editors.