Computer Control of Machines and Processes

ME 447 teaches discrete control theory applied to engineering practice, covering system modeling, identification, and digital controller design for industrial processes.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 5

Historical reviews of Neil Duffie: Reviewers rate the difficulty as low to moderate, with one citing a difficulty rating of 1 and another a 3, suggesting manageable coursework.

Grade history

average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

M E 340, 346, or 446, graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students

    • ME 340
    • 346
    • ME 446
    • graduate/professional standing
    • member of Engineering Guest Students
    take one
ME 447

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • ME 340
    • 346
    • ME 446
    • graduate/professional standing
    • member of Engineering Guest Students

Professors

Fall 2026

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews for Neil Duffie describe him as helpful, knowledgeable, and extremely nice, with a strong desire for student learning. Reviewers found his PowerPoint slides extremely helpful, though one noted that his long tenure might make the class feel boring to some.

NEIL DUFFIE is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

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Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records

No records available.

Student experience

the class

Historical reviews describe Neil Duffie as helpful, knowledgeable, and extremely nice, with helpful PowerPoint slides, though one reviewer notes the class can feel boring due to his long tenure.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.44 GPA, 44.4% A/AB (n=9 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.57 GPA, 57.1% A/AB (n=7 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.64 GPA, 72.7% A/AB (n=11 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Neil Duffie: Reviewers rate the difficulty as low to moderate, with one citing a difficulty rating of 1 and another a 3, suggesting manageable coursework.

Historical reviews of Neil Duffie: Students found the instructor's desire for everyone to learn and his helpful presentation materials to be significant positive aspects of the course experience.

Topics

  • Discrete system modeling and identification
  • Industrial process and machine computer control
  • Computer control economics and planning

Skills

  • Discrete system modeling, system identification, and digital controller design
  • Computer control economics, planning, and programming

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Fall 2026 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "cc1932aad63aa9bed7641a0ea687182039f9312ea40faacc0fc0424b979e1f3d",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}