Colin Weber has always had an eye on the big picture. As an undergraduate chemical engineering student in Connecticut, he often looked for ways to apply his engineering skills to a wider set of challenges, taking on internships that tackled construction management and data analysis. That mindset continued when he took a job at Lockheed Martin, where he began in quality assurance, learning standards, audits, and root cause analysis in a lab and machine shop.
When he started to look for a graduate program that could spark growth in his career, systems engineering and Drexel were a natural fit. Weber completed the MS in Systems Engineering in June 2025, then quickly moved into Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technical Leadership Program, a selective two-year rotation for developing technical leaders.
“I enrolled at Drexel while I was transitioning into systems work at Lockheed, and the degree helped solidify what I was learning on the job,” Weber said. “It built up concepts I wasn’t aware of, including statistics, which I hadn’t worked with before but that were going to be an important part of my job moving forward.”
At Drexel, Weber shifted from software engineering to systems after realizing that his work required managing across disciplines and framing decisions with data. He added a graduate certificate in computer science and concentrated on core systems methods such as model-based systems engineering, or MBSE. In MBSE courses, he practiced capturing system architecture, interfaces, and requirements in formal models, then used those models to simulate behavior and test assumptions early in the design process. He paired that work with modeling and simulation, probability and statistics, and engineering management.
“What I liked at Drexel was the mix,” Weber said. “Between my advisor, Rob Lazaro, and the engineering management coursework in areas like engineering economics and financial management, we shaped a plan that felt like a blend of an MBA and a systems engineering degree.”
The classroom translated quickly to the job. Weber used requirements methods and MBSE modeling to organize complex interfaces on a satellite ground product, relied on statistics to plan tests and quantify risk, and drew on engineering economics to explain cost and schedule tradeoffs in briefings.
“I had the general critical thinking skill set that any engineering degree gives you,” Weber said. “I made sure to keep learning on the job.”
Weber earned INCOSE Certified Systems Engineering Professional and CompTIA Security+ in July 2025, credentials that strengthen the leadership profile he is building inside Lockheed’s rotation.
“Within the next two to three years, the goal would be to become an international program manager executing programs with global partners,” Weber said. “If not program execution, then a role in global business development where I can translate what customers need and help shape strategy.”
For Weber, the through line is clear: Drexel gave him structured tools to connect disciplines, test ideas before they are built, and brief decisions with data. He has carried that approach into each step that followed.