Applied Science Will Offer New Field for Study

The Division of Applied Science will introduce a graduate program in Control Systems Engineering next fall, Robert C. Minnick, assistant professor of Applied Mathematics, announced yesterday.

The program is designed to teach students the methods and principles of electronic computers at a time when the field is constantly expanding. "Industry, while it knows little about the underlying principles of controls, needs people trained in the field and will hire as many people as we can train as fast as we can train them," Minnick said.

Emphasizing an integration of design of the control system as the basic principle, the program will draw its courses primarily from the Division's present offerings in four fields, Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Applied Physics, and Applied Science. In addition, two new courses, Applied Mathematics 209 and 210, and perhaps Applied Physics 225 will be required for the program.

Students in the program will earn a Master of Science degree after a year of study, consisting of eight related half-courses in the field. For a Doctorate, 16 half-courses and a thesis will be required. Each student's program, however, will be highly individual, decided by the student, subject to faculty approval.

Much of the program will be a venture into untested fields. "In the past, little has been known about the underlying principles of controls," Merrick explained. "But enough is now understood to enable us to train students in the field, although the subjects to be studied in some of the courses may have no texts to go by," he concluded.