Re: [help] degree in Computer Science/Software Engineering

[Ned Arnold <nda@aps.anl.gov>]

Hi Pavel -

I think you will find the backgrounds of those who "do what we do" vary significantly.  If you took a poll you would probably find some physicists, electrical engineers, computer scientists, computer engineers, mechanical engineers, electronic technicians, college dropouts ... etc.   Control/Software Engineering is more of a specialty rather than a discipline offered in academic course catalogs.  Most of us have somehow discovered this specialty and have applied our backgrounds to it rather than pursued it from the start.

The fact that you now realize what you would like to pursue is probably the biggest hurdle (you are certainly ahead if where I was at your age).  Now you can continue to take a wide variety of courses and extract the theory that may apply to your desired goal.  Unfortunately, that might be about 5% of the theory offered.

Of course just talking to people is another great way of learning what is important ... which is what you have already begun to do.

Regards -

   Ned

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From: "Pavel Masloff" <pavel.masloff@gmail.com>
To: tech-talk@aps.anl.gov
Sent: Friday, November 25, 2011 5:09:11 AM
Subject: [help] degree in Computer Science/Software Engineering

Dear colleagues!
A rather off-topic question to you. I would appreciate to hear your answers, comments, advice.

I would love to get a Master's degree in the field specifically related to what YOU guys do: EPICS, DAQ, creating interfaces for scientific installations, writing drivers for hardware, linking it to software, you name it. I have gotten a Bachelor's and a Master's degrees in Robotics and Automation and Control respectively. But, truth be told, the knowledge that I got (general, I'd say, mediocre) doesn't have a lot to do with all the work YOU do and which is yet to be done by me (as I have decided) in my career as Control/Software Engineer.

Why would I need this? I am employed by the Efremov institute, and our laboratory develops coil-power supply systems for the ITER project (http://www.iter.org). I am responsible for the control part. Here at the Institute I have all the opportunities to gain knowledge related to electrical processes, apparatus, we have got decent pulsed-power facilities, great engineers and just nice people. However, the software/control area is undeveloped and we lack software specialists who I can learn from. Imagine, we are doing an international project, the level of the hardware, say, is decent. OK. But in terms of software, I must confess, we are not on the world level, which grieves me, to be honest. Of course, I would like our institute to competently fulfill Russia’s commitments towards ITER.

For this reason, I want to get a higher-education with focus on software design, possibly science-oriented. Let me say a few words about our contribution to ITER so as it will be clear enough for you to understand what I need. As I mentioned, our laboratory's scope of work includes creating coil-power supply systems. One of the key function is to protect the TF, PF, CS, CC coils by fast discharge of stored energy in case of a quench or other type of fault event. Briefly, the information from the sensors is processed by the Siemens S7 controllers, the time sequence for the actuators (bypass switch, vaccuum circuit-breaker, counter-pulse capacitor banks, pyrobreaker) is realized by Siemens FM352 Fast Boolean processor. Our plant system has to interact with the so-called CODAC control system, which is based upon EPICS and CSS. Additionally, we have to provide fast data for plasma stabilization.
With this in mind, as a developer, generally, I am not supposed to know all the 'command line cuisine' - there is the CSS framework, go program your PLCs and connect them to CODAC in compliance with a readme. I had done it already and I want to go beyond that.

I know there are lots of you on the list who are actually in charge of CODAC, there are many guys from the US national research laboratories. My message is addressed to you in the first place. I would love it if you would tell me:

• what did you study (or studying) in college and where?
• which courses/classes do you find had helped you in your current work?
• do you know any programs that provide sort of internships at national laboratories? (would be great if they were related to ITER)

What are your thoughts about getting the required knowledge at university (the other option would be working at a lab without getting a degree)? In case of the latter where can one get such experience?

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you!

--
Sincerely,

Pavel Maslov, MS
Junior Control Engineer / Power Pulsed Lab.
Efremov Institute for Electro-Physical Apparatus
St. Petersburg, Russia