AIAA Honors Steven Dam as 2024 Associate Fellow

[Manassas, VA; 10-24-23] – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the world’s largest aerospace professional society, proudly announced Dr. Steven Dam as an esteemed member of the Class of 2024 AIAA Associate Fellows.

AIAA Associate Fellows are individuals who have demonstrated remarkable accomplishments in engineering, scientific work, and contributions to the fields of aeronautics and astronautics. Dr. Dam's recognition as an AIAA Associate Fellow underscores his exceptional achievements and the significant impact he has made in the aerospace community.

The selection of Dr. Dam comes from his innovative contributions to systems engineering and the development of the Innoslate integrated systems engineering and program management tool. His groundbreaking work has paved the way for advancements in the aerospace industry, making him a prominent figure in the field.

Highlights from Dr. Dam’s career that resulted in this fellowship include:

• President of Systems and Proposal Engineering Company (SPEC Innovations), a consulting firm that brings systems engineering techniques to programs, proposals, training, and software development. 
• Over 45 years of experience in systems engineering, proposal development, and scientific computing.
• Work history at Los Alamos National Laboratory, TRW, Rockwell International, and Science Applications International Corporation on programs ranging from Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST) to Ballistic Missile Defense Lethality and System Survivability. 
• Leadership and support for successful advanced program work at DARPA and DTRA on the Counter Proliferation ACTD, High Altitude Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (HAE UAV) ACTD, Joint Precision Strike Demonstration (JPSD) and the Synthetic Theater of War (STOW) System Engineering, Integration and Demonstration projects.’
• Support of the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office (DARO) in developing their “Vision Architecture.” 
• Served as Chief Systems Engineer for the Intelligence Community’s Year 2000 Mission Readiness Assessment Program, providing the methodology and oversight of the systems engineering, test and evaluation components of this effort.
• Supported the development of the Net-Centric Enterprise Services and Net-Enabled Command Capability architectures at DISA, as well as the Business Enterprise Architecture for BTA.
• Developed architectures and CONOPS for the Senior Leader Command Control and Communications System (SLC3S) for ASD/NII.
• Supported work for NNSA NA-14 and NA-18 in the areas of AoA analyses and Requirements Database schema development and document parsing. 
• Authored four books on systems engineering: 
  • Real MBSE – Model-Based Systems Engineering using LML and Innoslate
  • Essential LML – Lifecycle Modeling Language (LML): a Thinking Tool for Capturing, Connecting and Communicating Complex Systems
  • DoD Architecture Framework: A Guide A Guide to Applying System Engineering to Develop Integrated, Executable Architectures
  • Proposal Engineering: A Guide to Developing Winning, Cost-Effective Proposals
  • Recently contributed a chapter on Concept of Operations (CONOPS) development to the NASA-DoD sponsored book, Applied Space Systems Engineering.
• Served as President of the Washington Metropolitan Area Chapter of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). 
• Presents papers and tutorials at the annual INCOSE International Symposiums and NDIA’s annual Systems Engineering Conferences. 
• Served as Director for the Americas for INCOSE.
• Authored and taught courses in architecture development using the DoDAF and Systems Engineering techniques. 
• Serves as Chair of the George Mason University Systems Engineering/Operations Research Department Advisory Board and an Adjunct Professor at GMU.
• Created two commercial software tools, AnalyZer™ and OutLiner™, used in RFP requirements analysis and proposal development. These tools were written in Java. 
• Serves as systems architect for the commercial systems engineering and program management tool, Innoslate.
• Worked at major US Aerospace corporations, including TRW, Rockwell International, and SAIC.

"I am deeply honored and humbled to be selected as an AIAA Associate Fellow. This recognition is a testament to the dedication and hard work of not only myself but also the incredible teams I've had the privilege of working with throughout my career,” shared Dr. Steven Dam, SPEC Innovations President and Founder.” I look forward to continuing my commitment to advancing aerospace innovation and sharing my knowledge with the AIAA community. Together, we can push the boundaries of what's possible in our field."

Dr. Dam will attend the Class of 2024 Associate Induction Ceremony, taking place in January 2024, during the 2024 AIAA SciTech Forum in Orlando, FL.

About SPEC Innovations: SPEC Innovations is a leading provider of systems engineering and requirements management software and services. With a commitment to innovation and customer success, SPEC Innovations empowers organizations to streamline their engineering processes and achieve project excellence through their flagship software, Innoslate. For more information, visit specinnovations.com.

About AIAA: The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world's largest aerospace professional society, serving a diverse range of more than 30,000 individual members from 91 countries and over 100 corporate members. AIAA members help make the world safer, more connected, more accessible, and more prosperous. For more information, please visit www.aiaa.org.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Taylor Duffy

SPEC Innovations

taylor.duffy@specinnovations.com