Hands-On Process Control Experiences: A Curriculum Integration Experiment

Hands-on, design-oriented experiences, realistically connected to future careers, may be used to increase engineering graduation rates. This content has been shown to both enhance the educational experience and increase student retention rates. While relevant topics may be found in each engineering discipline, relatively few demonstrate multidisciplinary appeal and a realistic future career connection. At the University of Texas at Tyler, with support from the National Science Foundation, a process control systems theme propagates through each academic level. The theme is relevant to many disciplines including agricultural, chemical, electrical, mechanical, and petroleum engineering. A proof of concept system, consisting of hardware components, associated hands-on activities and computer-based accessories will be described. Although not completely seamless, the integration of the theme into an existing mechanical engineering curriculum will be presented, along with survey data collected from participating students. Lessons learned are included, along with a description of a CD-based resource guide