Alejandro Salado

Director of Systems Engineering
Associate Professor of Systems and Industrial Engineering
Member of the Graduate Faculty

Alejandro Salado is an associate professor of systems engineering with the Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering at the University of Arizona. He conducts research in problem formulation, design of verification and validation strategies, model-based systems engineering, and engineering education. Before joining academia, Dr. Salado spent over 10 years in the space industry, where he held positions as a systems engineer, chief architect, and chief systems engineer in manned and unmanned space systems of up to $1B in development cost. He has published over 85 technical papers, and his research has received federal funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Naval Surface Warfare Command (NSWC), the Naval Air System Command (NAVAIR), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), among others. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the International Fulbright Science and Technology Award, the Omega Alpha Association’s Exemplary Dissertation Award, and several best paper awards. Dr. Salado holds a BS/MS in electrical and computer engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, an MS in project management and an MS in electronics engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the SpaceTech MEng in space systems engineering from the Technical University of Delft, and a Ph.D. in systems engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology. Alejandro is a member of INCOSE and a senior member of IEEE and AIAA.

Degrees

  • PhD Systems Engineering
    • Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ
  • MS Electronics Engineering and M.S. Project Management
    • Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain
  • MEng Space Systems Engineering
    • Technical University of Delft, Delft, The Netherlands
  • BS and MS Electrical and Electronics Engineering
    • Polytechnic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

Work Experience

  • The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona (2021 - Ongoing)
  • Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia (2015 - 2021)
  • University of Southeast Norway (2013 - 2015)
  • OHB System AG (2012 - 2015)
  • Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (2012 - 2012)
  • Aribus Defense and Space (2008 - 2012)
  • NTE-SENER S.A. (2006 - 2008)
  • Delta-Utec SRC (2005 - 2006)
  • European Space Agency (ESA) (2005 - 2005)

Interests

Research

Theory of systems engineering, formalization of systems engineering, methods that improve systems engineering practice (in the areas of problem formulation, verification and validation strategies, and system architecture), and engineering education.

Teaching

Systems engineering, problem definition, model-based systems engineering (MBSE), system architecture, verification & validation, decision analysis.

Selected Publications

Chapters

  • Salado, A. (2022). Model-Based Requirements. In Handbook of Model-Based Systems Engineering. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-27486-3_19-1
  • Shadab, N., Kulkarni, A., & Salado, A. (2021). Challenges to the Verification and Validation of AI-enabled Systems. In Systems Engineering and Artificial Intelligence(pp 363-378). Cham: Springer.
  • Salado, A., Kannan, H., & Farkhondehmaal, F. (2019). Capturing the Information Dependencies of Verification Activities with Bayesian Networks. In Systems Engineering in Context. Springer, Cham. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-00114-8_46
  • Salado, A., Mcdermott, T., Moral, A., & Davis, K. A. (2019). Why Not Teaching Systems Architecture as a Studio Art Class. In Systems Engineering in Context. Springer, Cham. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-00114-8_22
  • Wach, P., & Salado, A. (2019). A Research Plan to Discover Patterns of Unknown Vulnerabilities Associated with Adopting SysML. In Systems Engineering in Context. Springer, Cham. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-00114-8_23
  • Sutherland, J., Salado, A., Oizumi, K., & Aoyama, K. (2018). Implementing Value-Driven Design in Modelica for a Racing Solar Boat. In Convergence in Systems Engineering. Springer, Cham. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-62217-0_58

Journals/Publications

  • Salado, A. (2022). An experimentation framework for validating architectural properties as proxies for the ilities. Systems Engineering, 25(4), 342-359. doi:10.1002/sys.21618
  • Salado, A., & Kulkarni, A. U. (2022). Understanding Redundancy Requirements in the Design of Non-Serviceable Systems. Engineering Management Journal, 1-11. doi:10.1080/10429247.2022.2149012
  • Salado, A., & Xu, P. (2022). A Mathematical Approach to Design Verification Strategies that Incorporate Corrective Activities as Dedicated Decisions. IEEE Open Journal of Systems Engineering, 1-10. doi:10.1109/ojse.2022.3222731
  • Salado, A., Henderson, K., McDermott, T., & Van Aken, E. (2022). Towards Developing Metrics to Evaluate Digital Engineering. Systems Engineering, 26(1), 3-31. doi:10.1002/sys.21640
  • Salado, A., Wach, P., & Beling, P. (2022). Initial Systems Theoretic Metamodel of Verification Artifacts. INCOSE International Symposium, 32(S2), 99-108. doi:10.1002/iis2.12900
  • Navarro, N., Horvath, L., & Salado, A. (2022). Design of an IoT System for the Palletized Distribution Supply Chain with Model-Based Systems Engineering Tools. Systems, 10(1). doi:10.3390/systems10010004
  • Salado, A., & Golkar, A. (2021). Definition of New Space—Expert Survey Results and Key Technology Trends. IEEE Journal on Miniaturization for Air and Space Systems, 2(1), 2-9. doi:10.1109/jmass.2020.3045851
  • Salado, A., & Xu, P. (2021). Modeling correction activities in the context of verification strategies. Systems Engineering, 25(2), 173-188. doi:10.1002/sys.21609
  • Salado, A., Johnson, B. W., Ellingson, S. W., Harding, L. K., Zhang, J., Singh, M., Tong, Y., & Kucukdeger, E. (2021). Conformal 3D printing of non-planar antennas on wrinkled and folded kapton films using point cloud data. Flexible and printed electronics. doi:10.1088/2058-8585/ac28f1
  • Wernz, C., Salado, A., & Kulkarni, A. U. (2021). Coordination of verification activities with incentives: a two-firm model. Research in Engineering Design, 32(1), 31-47. doi:10.1007/s00163-020-00352-7
  • Yang, J., Wang, H., Voinov, A., Shenk, G. W., Salado, A., Razavi, S., Peterson, T. R., Little, J. C., Koralewski, T. E., Jakeman, A. J., Iwanaga, T., Hamilton, S. H., Grimm, V., Grant, W. E., Glynn, P., Frank, K., Elsawah, S., Chen, M., Barton, C. M., & Badham, J. (2021). Socio-technical scales in socio-environmental modeling: Managing a system-of-systems modeling approach.. Environmental modelling & software : with environment data news, 135, 104885. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2020.104885
  • Farkhondehmaal, F., & Salado, A. (2020). Efficient Population of the Verification Tradespace Using Bayesian Inference. IEEE Systems Journal, 14(3), 3225-3232. doi:10.1109/jsyst.2019.2932916
  • Iandoli, L., Salado, A., & Zollo, G. (2020). The role of aesthetic reasoning in knowledge management: the case of elegant systems architecture design. Knowledge Management Research & Practice, 18(1), 93-109. doi:10.1080/14778238.2019.1678410
  • Xu, P., Salado, A., & Cho, J. (2020). Expert Opinion Fusion Framework Using Subjective Logic for Fault Diagnosis.. IEEE transactions on cybernetics, PP, 1-12. doi:10.1109/tcyb.2020.3025800
  • Mcdermott, T., & Salado, A. (2019). A perspective on systems thinking, architecting, and art. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 36(5), 648-655. doi:10.1002/sres.2622

Proceedings Publications

  • Salado, A., Shadab, N., Cody, T., & Beling, P. (2022). Closed Systems Paradigm for Intelligent Systems. In AGI.
  • Ensafi, M., Afsari, K., Mehta, S. M., Shadab, N., Salado, A., Sagheb, S., & Kretser, M. (2021). A Modeling Methodology to Enable Digital Twin Development for Industry 4.0 Human Augmentation Experiments in Smart Factories. In 38th CIB W78 conference on Information and Communication Technologies for AECO.
  • Henderson, K., Salado, A., McDermott, T., & Van Aken, E. (2021). Measurement Framework for MBSE. In ASEM Annual Conference.
  • Wach, P., & Salado, A. (2021). True Model-Based Requirements (TMBR): Application to an Earth Observation Satellite. In AIAA Scitech 2021 Forum.
  • Woolsey, C. A., Shadab, N., Salado, A., & Halefom, M. H. (2021). A Methodology to Assess the Re-purposing of Manned Aircraft Airworthiness Standards for Unmanned Aircraft. In AIAA Scitech 2021 Forum.
  • Salado, A. (2020). From Model-Based Requirements to a Virtual Systems Engineering Advisor that Identifies Gaps in Requirements: An Application to Space Systems. In ASCEND 2020.
  • Shadab, N., & Salado, A. (2020). Towards an Interface Description Template for Reusing AI-enabled Systems. In 2020 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), 2893-2900.
  • Tan, R. M., & Salado, A. (2020). Structural Rules for an Intelligent Advisor to Identify Requirements Gaps using Model-Based Requirements. In 2020 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), 920-927.
  • Wach, P., & Salado, A. (2020). Model-Based Security Requirements for Cyber-Physical Systems in SysML. In 2020 IEEE Systems Security Symposium (SSS).
  • Xu, P., Wernz, C., Salado, A., & Kulkarni, A. U. (2020). Is Verifying Frequently an Optimal Strategy? A Belief-Based Model of Verification. In Volume 9: 40th Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (CIE).
  • Xu, P., Xie, G., & Salado, A. (2020). A Reinforcement Learning Approach to Design Verification Strategies of Engineered Systems. In 2020 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), 3543-3550.
  • Mcdermott, T., & Salado, A. (2018). Art and architecture: Effectively communicating models of systems. In 2018 Annual IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon), 1-7.
  • Salado, A. (2018). An Elemental Decomposition of Systems Engineering. In 2018 IEEE International Systems Engineering Symposium (ISSE).
  • Salado, A., & Kannan, H. (2018). Properties of the Utility of Verification. In 2018 IEEE International Systems Engineering Symposium (ISSE).
  • Salado, A., Ozkan, D. S., Murzi, H., & Gewirtz, C. (2018). Reality gaps in industrial engineering senior design or capstone projects. In 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings.

Others

  • McDermott, T., Salado, A., Van Aken, E., & Henderson, K. (2021, November). Application of Digital Engineering Measures. Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) Technical Report SERC-2021-SR-024.

Awards

Research and Engineering
  • 2019 Best Paper, INCOSE Systems Engineering Journal, 2020
  • 2018 Best Paper (2x papers), INCOSE Systems Engineering Journal, 2019
  • Best Paper Award Runner Up, ASEE Conference, IE Division, 2019
  • CAREER Award, National Science Foundation (NSF), 2019
  • New Attendee Travel Award, ASEE Conference, IE Division, 2017
  • Best Paper Award, ASEE Conference, IE Division, 2017
  • New IE Educator Outstanding Paper Award, ASEE Conference, IE Division, 2017
  • Best Academic Paper, Conference on Systems Engineering Research, 2015
  • Best Presentation, European Space Weather Week, 2014
  • Longest Manmade Structure Ever Deployed in Space, World Record Guinness, 2009
Teaching
  • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award, Virginia Tech, 2020
  • Edward S. Diggs Teaching Scholars Award, Virginia Tech, 2020
  • Teacher of the Week, Virginia Tech, CIDER, 2016
Service
  • Frank Woodbury Special Service Award (Team award), ASEM, 2021
  • Reviewer of the Year, INCOSE Systems Engineering Journal, 2020
Work as a Graduate Student
  • Exemplary SE Doctoral Dissertation, Omega Alpha Association, 2017
  • Outstanding Dissertation Award, Stevens Institute of Technology, SSE, 2014
  • Best Student Paper Award, Stevens Institute of Technology, SSE, 2014
  • The Fabrycky-Blanchard Award, Stevens Institute of Technology, SSE, 2014
  • Fulbright International Science and Technology Award, Institute of International Education, 2010