Control and Automation Engineering integrates electrical, electronic, computer, mechanical, and information technologies to enable the perception, modeling, analysis, control, and automatic management of complex systems. For these reasons, Control and Automation Engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering. Today, Control and Automation Engineering has a very broad range of applications—from manufacturing to the defense industry, from robotics to the automotive sector, from aviation to transportation systems, and from energy to smart buildings—and has become one of the fundamental engineering fields underpinning digital transformation and smart system technologies.
The Department of Control and Automation Engineering aims to provide students not only with the ability to apply existing technologies but also with an engineering education that enables them to adapt to evolving technologies, design new systems, think analytically, and develop innovative solutions to real-world engineering problems. In line with this objective, educational and research activities are conducted by integrating the fields of control, automation, electronics, computer science, software, robotics, and systems engineering, built upon a strong foundation in mathematics and the basic sciences.
The foundations of our department were laid through academic work conducted in the fields of Measurement, Instrumentation, Electronics, and Automatic Control within the Department of Electrical Engineering at Yıldız Technical University. The body of knowledge and pool of experts developed in these fields, coupled with the growing importance of control and automation technologies, led to the emergence of an independent academic structure.
As a result of this development, our department began its educational activities in 2009 as an independent department within the Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Yıldız Technical University. In what can be considered a relatively short period of time, it has become one of our university’s leading departments thanks to its qualified academic staff, robust laboratory infrastructure, research capacity, and the relationships it has developed with industry.
As of today, our department continues its educational activities through undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs; conducts research at the national and international levels; and contributes the engineers and researchers it trains to academia, high-tech sectors, and industry. We have 408 students in our 100% English-language undergraduate program and 442 students in our 30% English-language undergraduate program. There are 107 students enrolled in master’s programs and 41 students pursuing doctoral degrees. A total of 107 international students are enrolled in our department. The programs we offer also support the department’s goal of internationalization.
The foundation of Control and Automation Engineering education is based on the understanding that students must first acquire a strong foundation in engineering and science, and then be able to apply this foundation to real-world systems and applications.
In the early years of the undergraduate program, students develop analytical thinking and problem-solving skills through courses in mathematics, physics, and fundamental engineering. In subsequent years, students acquire professional knowledge and practical skills in fields such as electrical and electronic engineering, computer science, programming, system modeling, control theory, measurement and instrumentation, automation, robotics, and related areas. Through laboratory work, projects, and practical exercises, students are able to apply their theoretical knowledge to real-world systems.
In the advanced stages of the program, students can choose to specialize in various fields based on their interests. Some of these areas include automatic control, robotics, industrial automation, real-time systems, electric drives, embedded systems, AI-supported control, image processing, transportation systems, SCADA and human-machine interfaces, the Internet of Things, and smart systems.
Thanks to this structure, students graduate with a broad foundation that allows them to understand new technologies and adapt them to various engineering problems without being tied to any specific technology.
Due to its interdisciplinary nature, Control and Automation Engineering is a field of research that finds applications in a wide variety of sectors. The work conducted in our department spans a broad spectrum, ranging from theoretical research to experimental systems, and from laboratory-scale applications to industrial problems.
Our primary research and application areas include:
- Design, analysis, and implementation of automatic control systems,
- Real-time control and embedded control systems,
- Modeling and control of complex systems,
- Robotics and autonomous systems,
- Avionics and aerospace systems,
- Transportation systems and traffic control,
- Industrial automation and process control,
- SCADA and human-machine interfaces,
- Electric drives and power electronics applications,
- Sensor and actuator technologies,
- Image processing and computer vision,
- Signal processing and system analysis,
- Internet of Things and cloud-based control,
- Communication networks in control systems,
- Parallel and high-performance computing,
- Environmental monitoring and modeling,
- Automotive systems,
- Electronic systems and devices,
- CAD/CAM and smart manufacturing systems,
- Safety and reliability
- are included.
These studies are conducted in alignment with the needs of the defense, automotive, aerospace, transportation, energy, manufacturing, environmental, and high-tech sectors. We place great importance on strengthening university-industry collaboration and transforming research outcomes into social and economic benefits.
The mission of the Department of Control and Automation Engineering is to educate engineers and researchers who combine scientific thinking, strong engineering foundations, and practical skills; who are competent, innovative, and possess ethical values in disciplines related to control and automation; and a sense of social responsibility.
In line with this mission, our department aims to provide students with a strong foundation in mathematics, basic sciences, and engineering; to integrate theoretical knowledge with experimental and applied work; to develop students’ analytical thinking, design, and problem-solving skills; to make a culture of research and innovation an integral part of the educational process; to foster national and international academic and industrial collaborations; and to contribute to the transformation of knowledge into technology and societal benefit.
As the Department of Control and Automation Engineering, our vision is to be a pioneering department recognized nationally and internationally in our field, striving for excellence in education and research, leading the development of next-generation technologies, and contributing to the creation of future smart systems through the engineers we educate.
With this vision, we educate students who possess an academic and engineering culture that not only keeps pace with current technologies but also shapes the technologies of the future. The integration of rapidly evolving fields—such as artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous systems, Industry 4.0, the Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems, and smart transportation—with control and automation technologies is a key component of our department’s future-oriented work.
As the Department of Control and Automation Engineering, we see ourselves at the center of technological advancements, forging strong connections across various engineering disciplines. The production systems, autonomous vehicles, robots, smart transportation networks, energy systems, and digital factories of the future define our areas of focus. To develop effective and efficient systems in these fields, our students must possess the necessary knowledge and skills to design and implement control and automation systems that can perceive their environment, process the data they collect, make decisions, and adapt their behavior accordingly. Our department views it as one of its fundamental responsibilities to educate engineers equipped with the knowledge and competencies required by this transformation and to conduct research that will shape the technologies of the future. We encourage our students to apply the scientific foundation they acquire throughout their education to research, design, and project work, and to establish a strong connection between academic knowledge and real-world problems.
With this approach, as the Department of Control and Automation Engineering, we aim to create an educational and research environment that generates knowledge, advances technology, designs innovative solutions, and transforms engineering into a force that creates value for society’s future.