Enhancement Of Instrumentation And Process Control Studies At The Undergraduate Level

Process instrumentation and control has been an integral component of the chemical engineering curriculum for the better part of three decades. However, the changes that have occurred in instrumentation and automated control during the past decade are significant. Many departments have been faced with the need to augment the traditional instruction of this subject with laboratory experiences so that their graduates are conversant in state-of-the-art instrumentation and control as it is practiced in industry today. These laboratory experiences allow the student to gain an appreciation for the contribution these tools make to the successful operation of a process unit or plant, to become familiar with instrumentation, and to be exposed to advanced control strategies in practice. This paper describes efforts at Mississippi State University to transform the process control instructional methods to facilitate the transition from undergraduate student to practicing engineer in the area of process control.