Lost in terminology.(RANTS AND RAVES)

Please leave out the word "systems" from our organization name. I am a graduate of the Department of Systems Design Engineering at University of Waterloo and proud of it. From all our training, I am very aware of the broad range of meanings in the word, and I have a great grounding in general system theory. But as system design students, we were forever trying to explain to our classmates in other departments (let alone other faculties) what systems design was. Each of us invented our own way to describe the holistic, integrated look at engineering problems that we were learning. But no matter who we spoke to, their constant starting assumption was that we were all about computers. Regardless of the depth of meaning in the word "systems," the popular usage of the term relates to computers.

When I tell someone that I'm an industrial engineer, their image of what I do is much closer to reality than when I say I'm a systems design engineer. My strong recommendation is to leave it as it stands.

Hugh Alley

Alco Ventures Inc.

Langley, British Columbia, Canada

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