Faculty and Industry Led Workshop to Prepare Students for Successful Internships in Process Control and Automation

Industry demand for engineers with skills in automation and advanced process control is rapidly growing. The increasing reliance upon automation coupled with the loss of process control experts associated with the "silver tsunami" (wave of retirements) is creating unprecedented demand for new talent in this increasingly important field. Introducing students to this area early in their education will not only better prepare students to enter an internship/co-op assignment in automation and process control, but also spark more student interest in pursuing a career in automation. Unfortunately, most engineering student interns have had no coursework in process control since these courses are typically taught senior year. To meet these emerging needs, we developed a workshop to prepare students for targeted internships in advanced process control and automation. This is an intensive three-week workshop to present students with the full spectrum of automation, from field instrumentation to enterprise control systems. The inaugural pilot workshop, titled Systems Automation Springboard to Internships (SASI), was held during the winter term of 2021. Students were sponsored by companies, who paid the workshop fee, and offered the students an internship during the summer of 2021. SASI provides in-depth training in the areas of automation and controls, with a mix of lectures, laboratory experiences, programming, and discussions with industry experts. The strength of the workshop lies in the rich depth and variety of materials offered by a mix of seven industrial and three academic instructors delivered to students motivated to advance beyond the standard curriculum. The investment of the companies to pre-train their interns has shown great return in terms of more productive internships and more focused workforce development. Feedback from the sponsor companies and students give high marks for the workshop.