The news is now public that Greg McMillan has won an ISA Life Achievement Award. The article highlights some of the key reasons for the award:
Generally acknowledged as a leading expert in pH control and modeling/simulation, among other technical areas, McMillan spent the first 33 of his more than 40-year career at Monsanto, and its spin-off Solutia Inc.
There, he specialized in improving loop performance, controller tuning, valve dynamics, opportunity assessments, dynamic simulation, fermentor control, pH control, and reactor control. He modeled/simulated alternatives and created equations that simplified processes, reduced costs, and significantly improved process system performance time.
McMillan is often described as “an all-around good guy” who is a big believer in sharing his knowledge with less-experienced engineers and technicians by teaching, mentoring, and writing. He is a prolific writer–having authored more than 50 articles and papers, plus 18 books.
I’ll strongly second the “all-around good guy” comment. Greg shares his wisdom in process control and optimization in a multitude of ways. One way is his Modeling and Control blog. Another way is the free eBooks he makes available once the copyright is returned from the publisher back to Greg.
Another way is the demo/seminar series we’ve been doing together since earlier this year. You can see the library of recorded sessions and presentations available for download. These have a cumulative view total in the thousands and are available to process automation professionals around the world as they seek to improve their knowledge and skills.
Greg even developed a Process Control Lab to gain hands on experience with various process control challenges.
If you’re at the ISA Automation Week this week in Houston, he’s is taking part in some sessions such as How to Get the Most Out of Your PID and Loop Tuning. One Size does not Fit All.
Greg is the model for finding many ways to share his vast expertise. As more and more experienced automation professionals retire, they may want to borrow a page or two from Greg’s playbook.
Congratulations Greg! I can’t think of a person more deserving of this award.
