Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Applied Research

The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Applied Research Program Element (PE) aims to develop and evaluate the feasibility and practicality of software and computer science concepts at the applied research level. This program, under the Office of the Secretary of Defense, supports the Department's initiative to Build Sustainable and Long-Term Advantage by providing technical leadership and innovation through research and development to advance the practice of software engineering and technology. The SEI works across government, industry, and academia to improve the state of software engineering from technical, acquisition, and management perspectives. Its specific goals include enhancing assurance, exploiting automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), understanding human-computer interaction, and enabling resilient mission assurance in heterogeneous and contested environments.

The SEI Applied Research PE has two main research thrusts with known military applications: (1) Software Engineering, Systems Verification and Validation, and Mission Assurance; and (2) Information Assurance. The program seeks to develop verification techniques for requirements identification, systems of systems architectures, virtual integration of components, as well as scalable automated methods to locate, understand, and mitigate vulnerabilities in complex systems. Additionally, it aims to enable combined risk analysis between software, machine learning, and cyber security to govern system configuration and management in contested environments. These efforts directly benefit the technical domains Autonomous Systems and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cyber, and Engineered Resilient Systems. The program also facilitates rapid transition of software engineering technologies into practice while evaluating emerging software engineering technologies to determine their potential for improving software-intensive DoD systems.