Career change to Control Engineering

[trueblue221]

I have an BS and MS in mathematics and my thesis involved a lot of control theory. I have decided I want to change my career to control engineering. I got accepted to a Masters program called Measurement and Control Engineering at ISU. I'm wondering though if it is necessary to get this degree, or if there is a quicker or cheaper path than getting another college degree?

 

[xnuke]

As a practicing controls engineer with an advanced degree and as a college professor, I have some concerns about their MS program. Papering over a non-engineering undergraduate degree with a MS engineering degree containing topics that may be of interest to researchers and academics but that aren't widely needed in industry may not help you. I'd bet you'd use less than 1% of what you study on the job. You certainly wouldn't need what they're going to teach you in most control applications I've encountered in over 20 years working in both process control and motion control. Their program would be fine if you want to prepare for a Ph.D., however.

Their curriculum is heavily oriented toward control theory, and knowledge of control theory is simply not enough to become a good controls engineer. It only helps you develop the control algorithm for a particular process, but that's just one small part of what makes up a control system. You should know the fundamentals of motion, energy, and mass transport, because that's what you're really controlling and manipulating as a controls engineer. It also helps you develop models of systems so you can design controller algorithms. I can't tell you how many times I've relied on this knowledge. This means study of chemistry, physics, dynamics, kinematics, thermodynamics, fluid flow, heat transfer, etc. If you don't have a strong background in these topics, you may want to do some postbaccalaureate work in engineering fundamentals first. You need to learn controller hardware platforms (from custom embedded to commercial off-the-shelf), programming, digital signal processing and digital control systems, industrial networking and network security, sensors and actuators, human factors engineering for interface development, etc. I omitted the math courses I'd recommend since you have math degrees, but the calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra are important to control theory. Finally, you should also learn engineering design: drawings, specifications, codes and standards, engineering economics, project management, etc. Honestly, I think you'd be better off taking undergraduate core engineering courses for the same amount of time and earning a second BS in engineering. I don't know if there is a cheaper or better path.



xnuke
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[Compositepro]

xnuke makes some very good points. Control theory can be very mathematical but if you want to be a controls engineer in industry it is mainly about designing or implementing controls on machines and process with little actual high-level math involved. Understanding the physics of the process to be controlled is essential to control system design. Understanding the software platforms is essential for implementation.

 

[IRstuff]

I think that a masters is overkill if you are looking for a straight engineering job. What you get in a decent set of upper division controls classes is probably more than adequate. Additionally, tacking on another degree smacks of of Hamlet, i.e., being a professional student, one that makes a career of going to school.

Additionally, one has to wonder whether the person getting all these degrees is more interested in academic matters than in getting business matters going.

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[trueblue221]

Moved the discussion over here for a wider audience, since the scope of my question broadened.

 

[georgeverghese]

Instead of this MS, would you consider working with a company that specialises in process plant dynamic simulations ?