Bringing Control to Students and Teachers.

This article provides information on the 42nd Institute of Electrical and Electronics Incorporated Engineers (IEEE) Conference on Decision and Control, held in Maui, Hawaii on December 9, 2003. The Technical Committee on Control Education of the IEEE Control Systems Society allegedly strives to bring control system concepts and technologies to the awareness of high school and middle school students and teachers. Control is allegedly used in many common devices and systems, such as computer hard drives, videocassette recorders, automobiles, and aircraft but is usually hidden from view. The goal of the committee is to allegedly promote an increased awareness among students and teachers of the importance and cross-disciplinary nature of control and systems technology. To help meet such objectives, a workshop was held at the conference. About 250 students from the Maui School District, which spans the islands of Maui, Lanai, and Molokai, attended the workshop, escorted by their teachers. In addition, teachers who had attended earlier workshops allegedly came from as far away as Florida to participate. Because of space limitations, several hundred additional students had to be turned away from the field trip. INSETS: Comments from the Maui District School Superintendent;Past Speakers and Topics;Comments About the Workshop;NSF Research and K-12 Education: A Winning Partnership