Ģ����Ƶ

After nearly three decades of research in complex software-enabled systems, Ģ����Ƶ’s Institute for Software Integrated Systems is entering its next chapter with a new name: the Institute for Convergent Software Integrated Systems, or .

Founded in 1998, the institute has remained focused on understanding, engineering and operating complex systems that are safe, secure and resilient. What has changed is the nature of the systems themselves.

“Our mission has remained remarkably consistent, even as the technologies, systems and challenges around us have evolved,” said , director of ICONS and a professor of computer science and electrical and computer engineering. “The addition of ‘Convergent’ reflects how we work today—bringing together disciplines, perspectives and technologies that have historically stood apart to address increasingly complex problems in national security and society. ICONS builds on the strong foundation of our past while more clearly expressing our vision for the future.”

Today’s systems extend far beyond the software and computing platforms envisioned in the late 1990s. They encompass physical infrastructure, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, human behavior, health, policy, and other interconnected domains. Their growing complexity demands expertise and methods that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries.

“Software Integrated Systems” remains at the heart of the institute’s identity, reflecting the enduring role of computing in integrating complex systems, Neema said. “Convergent” captures what’s new: drawing computing and engineering together with domains as diverse as medicine, education and policy.

The institute has been at the forefront of the technology convergence through its longstanding leadership in cyber-physical systems since the field emerged as a major research area in the late 2000s. More recently, advances in predictive and generative AI have accelerated interdisciplinary research and opened new domains for innovation.

“As ICONS looks ahead,” Neema said, “it will continue to evolve its research priorities and methods in response to emerging technologies and national needs—bringing together ideas, disciplines and institutions to produce outcomes that are, fittingly, iconic.”