Scott Ferguson

Research Overview

Dr. Ferguson leads the Systems, Decisions, and Objectives (SDO) Lab at NC State. The lab’s mission is to advance the science of engineered systems designed to adapt, evolve, and deliver long-term value within deeply uncertain environments.

As modern systems face unprecedented and unexpected disruptions in sectors such as national infrastructure, defense, aerospace, mobility, and healthcare, the SDO Lab addresses a critical guiding question: How should engineers architect today’s systems to meet immediate requirements while ensuring resilience against unpredictable future shifts?

Scientific Approach

Our work synthesizes systems architecting, decision science, and digital engineering to bridge the gap between computational intelligence and human judgment. By developing rigorous decision-making frameworks and digital tools, we empower engineers to manage complexity and make confident, explainable choices that balance immediate performance with long-term adaptability.

Research Areas

The SDO Lab’s research program is organized into four core areas:

• Designing systems for change: Enabling systems to evolve, adapt, and remain resilient over time
• Decision-making under deep uncertainty: Ensuring explainability, traceability, and transparency in AI-supported workflows
• Portfolio-level strategy: Framing small-world engineering problems to balance risk, value, and adaptability
• Educating the next generation: Training the next generation to tackle ill-structured, complex problems using systems thinking, computational intelligence, and critical reasoning

Collaboration & Impact

The SDO Lab actively collaborates with industry leaders, government agencies, and academic institutions to solve high-impact challenges at the intersection of complexity and long-term performance. Our goal is to provide the theoretical foundations and practical capabilities necessary to sustain critical functions in an increasingly uncertain world.

To learn more about this work, please visit his lab website: Systems, Decisions, and Objectives Lab.

Courses Taught

Dr. Ferguson has taught undergraduate courses in Dynamics (MAE 208), Introduction to Aerospace Engineering (MAE 250), Aerospace Vehicle Performance (MAE 251), ME Capstone Design (MAE 416), Fundamentals of Product Design (MAE 426), and Introduction to Space Flight (MAE 467).

He also teaches graduate sections of Fundamentals of Product Design (MAE 526) and Engineering Design Optimization (MAE 531).