Title:  The Relevance of Control Science and Engineering for Industry: Perspective, Messages, and Opportunities

Abstract: Despite the enormous benefit that has accrued to society from control technology and the continued vitality of control science as a research field, there is broad consensus that the practitioners of control and the academic research community are insufficiently engaged with each other. This talk will explore this concern from an industry perspective. We will review results of surveys that indicate the extent of the problem and highlight specific issues. To emphasize the continuing relevance of control science to industry, several recent examples of successful, deployed advanced control solutions will be mentioned. The centerpiece of the talk will be a set of “messages,” intended primarily for researchers interested in the practical impact of their work, that shed insight on the industry mindset. A concluding section will introduce an application domain outside of the realm of engineering systems—managerial decision making as a control system.

Biography: Tariq Samad holds the Honeywell/W.R. Sweatt Chair and is Senior Fellow at the Technological Leadership Institute at the University of Minnesota. He joined TLI in 2016 after a 30-year career with Honeywell, retiring as Corporate Fellow with Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions and the Global Innovation Leader for the business. During his career with Honeywell he led and contributed to automation and control technology developments for applications in clean energy, electric power systems, building management, t he process industries, automotive engines, unmanned aircraft, and advanced manufacturing.
        Dr. Samad is a past president of the American Automatic Control Council and IEEE Control Systems Society. He is a Fellow of IEEE, IFAC, and AAIA and the recipient of a few awards including the IEEE CSS Control Systems Technology Award, a Distinguished Member Award from IEEE CSS, and an IEEE Third Millennium Medal.. He is the founding chair of the IFAC Industry Committee and serves on the IFAC Council. Dr. Samad holds 20 patents and has authored or coauthored over 100 publications. His book publications include the Encyclopedia of Systems and Control (co-editor-in-chief, Springer, 2014; 2nd edition, 2020). He was editor-in-chief of IEEE Press and is currently the founding editor of the Wiley/IEEE Press Book Series on Technology Management, Innovation, and Leadership. He serves on the boards of Clean Energy Economy Minnesota and IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society, where he is the Vice President for Publications. Dr. Samad holds a B.S. degree in Engineering and Applied Science from Yale University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.