Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering

Committee Director

Barry C. Ezell

Committee Member

Resit Unal

Committee Member

Ambrosio Valencia-Romero

Committee Member

Jessica M. Johnson

Abstract

This dissertation develops and evaluates an integration-centered approach to early-phase Mission Engineering that improves mission clarity under ambiguity. Stakeholder interpretations diverge, and interoperability constraints are not surfaced early. These conditions reduce mission clarity and weaken mission-to-system mapping readiness. The dissertation proposes an integration-centered approach that strengthens early mission framing through two complementary mechanisms: (1) a participatory design-inspired, artifact-first workflow that surfaces and repairs interpretation divergence, and (2) closed-corpus, RAG-enabled retrieval that grounds mission-to-system mapping in traceable evidence. The study was organized around a construct spine linking shared understanding, stakeholder alignment, and interoperability feasibility to mission clarity. A three phase mixed-methods design was used: Phase 1 characterized current practice; Phase 2 compared mission-framing artifacts under traditional versus PD-inspired workshops; and Phase 3 demonstrated a closed-corpus RAG configuration for traceable retrieval.

Phase 1 established a baseline survey context (usable N = 86; construct analytic base N = 85). Spearman correlation tests showed a positive association between Shared Understanding and Mission Clarity (ρ = 0.60, p < .001). Alignment was positively associated with Mission Clarity (ρ = 0.36, p < .001). These results are interpreted as baseline associations rather than causal effects. Phase 1 did not test a scalar Interoperability Feasibility construct because the deployed instrument did not include a direct scalar measure.

Phase 2 implemented a workshop with two conditions. Reviewers rated mission statement quality higher for the participatory design-supported condition (mean 3.50) than for the traditional condition (mean 2.8). Weighted rubric totals were also higher on average (316 vs. 278). Technical feasibility ratings were similar across conditions. Mechanism traces indicated three pathways: early externalization, constraint surfacing, and iteration through artifact refinement.

Phase 3 demonstrated a closed-corpus RAG proof-of-concept with Group 2 only, using the Referencer tool to generate a mission statement and produce traceable citations to retrieved sources. Benchmark-level retrieval and generation metrics are not claimed as results.

Overall, the findings support treating early-phase Mission Engineering as a socio-technical integration process in which mission clarity functions as an outcome of integration quality. The dissertation contributes a construct-spine logic, an evaluation approach for mission clarity, and mechanism explanations that link participatory design structure to improved artifact-level outcomes under ambiguity.

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In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25777/rfw9-wm91

ISBN

9798197810182

ORCID

0009-0002-6442-629X

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