David Olwell

Dr. David Olwell is the Interim Provost & Vice President of Academic Affairs at Saint Martin's University, overseeing institutional academic strategy and operations. He concurrently holds the rank of Professor in the Hal and Inge Marcus School of Engineering. Previously, he served as Dean of Engineering at Saint Martin's and Chair of the Department of Systems Engineering at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). His administrative roles include Chair of NPS Faculty Senate and ABET Engineering Accreditation Commissioner.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Statistics, University of Minnesota
• M.S. in Mathematics & Industrial Engineering, University of Minnesota
• M.S. in Statistics, University of Minnesota
• B.S. in Mathematics, U.S. Military Academy

Research Interests: Dr. Olwell focuses on reliability analysis, systems engineering foundational theory, and curriculum development. His work emphasizes integrating systems thinking into engineering education and advancing standards via initiatives like the Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBoK) and Graduate Reference Curriculum for Systems Engineering (GRCSE). He has authored textbooks on statistical process control and counterterrorism analytics.

Publications Trends: His recent work (2012–2019) emphasizes systems engineering education frameworks, standards development, and lifecycle methodologies. Key themes include global systems education, SEBoK contextualization, and reliability engineering applications.

Awards:

• Fellow of the American Council on Education (ACE)

Advising & Grants: Advisor to over 90 master’s students and 4 doctoral committees. Principal investigator on $6M+ in sponsored research. Active in ABET accreditation (led 5 visits) and INCOSE academic initiatives.

Labs/Teams: Co-led the BKCASE initiative to unify SE knowledge and curricula. Serves on ABET, INCOSE Academic Council, and U.S. Military Academy advisory boards.