Renovating the undergraduate process control course

The undergraduate process control course and how it is taught is a controversial subject that generates lively discussions among control academicians, control practitioners, and chemical engineering faculty who do not teach control. Curriculum trends such as the new emphasis on biological engineering are influencing how process control is taught, and clearly there is difficulty in squeezing more content into an already full course. We discuss different academic and industrial viewpoints on the control course and suggest ways in which the control course can be renovated (a more positive image than “reformed”). The roles of simulation and laboratory experiments are highlighted, and alternative ways of teaching control in the future are described, including problem-based learning, case studies, and use of multimedia classrooms.