The Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC), a University-Affiliated Research Center of the US Department of Defense, leverages the research and expertise of senior lead researchers from 25 collaborator universities throughout the United States. The SERC is unprecedented in the depth and breadth of its reach, leadership, and citizenship in systems engineering through its conduct of vitally important research and the education of future systems engineering leaders. Begun in 2008 and led by Stevens Institute of Technology and principal collaborator, the University of Southern California (USC), the SERC is a national resource providing a critical mass of systems engineering researchers—a community of broad experience, deep knowledge, and diverse interests. SERC researchers have worked across a wide variety of domains and industries, and bring that wide-ranging wealth of experience and expertise to their research. Establishing such a community of focused SE researchers, while difficult, delivers impact well beyond what any one university could accomplish. MISSION: The SERC will be instrumental in developing partnerships between academia, government, and industry with a focus on solving systems challenges that are critical to our national security through systems research. In doing so, the SERC will: - Catalyze community growth among SE researchers and end users by enabling collaboration among many SE research organizations - Accelerate SE competency development through rapid transfer of its research to educators and practitioners - Transform SE practice throughout the government by creating innovative methods, processes, and tools that address critical challenges to meet mission outcomes VISION: The SERC is the networked national resource meeting systems challenges of national and global significance through systems research.