In this part-time role contracted through Creative Systems Engineering, Prof Cook provides management advice on systems engineering research projects and capability design projects such as SEA 5000 and the Integrated Air and Missile Defence Program. He also contributes to the ongoing development of the Engineering Management System, the design of the Internal Research and Development Program, and mentors senior staff.

Prof Cook is the founder of Creative Systems Engineering, an engineering management consulting and contract research firm. In this role, Prof Cook applies his substantial experience of product design, systems definition and design, system modelling and simulation, and engineering management and leadership to assist his clients in areas such as system-of-systems engineering, project definition, model-based systems engineering, and enterprise improvement. He has conducted research and consultancy contracts for over 20 years and has a very strong reputation for the quality of his deliverables and his ability to satisfy his customers’ needs. His customers have included government, prime contractors, and small-to-medium enterprises.

Prof Cook has been with the University of Adelaide since 2014 where is the part-time Professor of Defence Systems. In this role, he teaches postgraduates courses and supervises research students in the Adelaide Business School in the areas of complex project management, system theory, and systems of systems engineering. His academic profile and publications can be found at: https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/stephen.cook

In his position as RLMIN, Prof Cook was responsible for the management and scientific leadership of the 70 staff of Military Information Networks Branch of DSTO. The research interests of Military Information Networks Branch covered terrestrial radio communication links and networks, satellite communications, tactical and strategic networks, transport protocols for multi-media military applications, and communications systems analysis. The Branch amassed a substantial publication record over the period.Prof Cook also took a proactive role in staff training and development and oversaw the training of many of the PhDs employed by the Branch.Despite considerable management responsibilities, he remained professionally active in the fields of HF radio systems design [D6-9, C21, C22], multi-mechanism adaptive radio technology [C19, C20, C23, C26, C27], modelling and simulation of military information networks [C25, T9-T10], and design automation [C24].

As Technical Manager, Prof Cook was responsible for project management and R&D of electronic security products based on video movement detection technology. One of the more interesting tasks undertaken was the design of an innovative, low-cost, video equaliser for up 1000m of low-cost coaxial cable. The resultant system was capable of good quality colour performance. Prof Cook was also responsible for the hardware and software design of a novel video slow scan system that automatically dialled a security control centre and transmitted an image on detection of an intruder [S3]. Near the end of his time at Vision Systems, he also became Quality Manager and established an ISO 9001 quality system [O12] for the LADS program.He continued his PhD part time during this period [J1, C2, S2].

At British Aerospace, his duties commenced with research into large-scale semiconductor memories for scientific spacecraft applications [O3, O4]. Following a three-month training secondment to the BAe Space Division in the UK, NASA, ESTEC Holland, and CRC Canada, this work led into the Starlab studies for which Prof Cook was Project Engineer [C1, O5-O10]. These study reports were vetted by a panel of experts from UK, USA, Canada, France and Australia and formed the basis of design reviews presented in Australia, Canada and USA. Design and management tasks on the Endeavour photon counting array detector experiment followed. During this period, Prof Cook became known for his knowledge of the low Earth orbit environment and his circuit design skills in areas as diverse as military dynamic memory cards and switch-mode power supplies [O11]. Photon counting detectors and switch-mode power supplies designed by Prof Cook successfully flew on the Space Shuttle.He commenced his PhD part time in late 1985.