Instrumentation & Control Technology

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Overview

Instrumentation and process control technicians install, maintain, repair, and adjust the measuring and controlling instruments that make plants run safely. Bellingham Technical College’s Instrumentation & Control program will give you training for a career as an instrumentation technician for high-tech industries such as power generation plants, water treatment facilities, chemical manufacturing plants, canneries, aerospace plants, bio-pharmaceutical plants, semiconductor manufacturing plants, and pulp and paper mills.

BTC’s classes in the Instrumentation & Control program will train you to maintain, repair, and troubleshoot instruments and control systems in industries that increasingly rely on automation. Instrumentation & Control is a great program choice if you’re looking for a high-wage career with employment potential across the nation and beyond.

Program Outcomes

• Communication - Communicates and expresses thoughts across a variety of mediums (verbal, written, visually) to effectively persuade, inform, and clarify ideas with colleagues.
• Time Management - Arrives on time and prepared to work; budgets time an meets deadlines when performing technical tasks and projects.
• Safety - Complies with national, state, and local safety regulations when repairing, calibrating, and installing instruments.
• Diagnose and Repair Existing Instruments - Assesses, diagnoses, and repairs faulty instruments in measurement and control systems using logical procedures and appropriate test equipment.
• Install and Configure New Instruments - Builds, configures, and installs new instrument systems according to plans, applying industry construction standards, and ensuring correct system operation when complete.
• Process Control Optimization - Improve system functions by evaluating control system performance; implements strategies to tune and stabilize control systems.
• Instrument Calibration - Assesses instrument accuracy and correct inaccuracies using appropriate calibration procedures and test equipment.
• Documents Instrument Systems - Interprets and creates technical documents (electronic schematics, loop diagrams, and P&IDs) according to industry (EIA, ISA) standards.
• Self-Directing Learning - Selects and researches relevant information sources to learn new principles, technologies, and techniques.
• Career Development - Researches and seeks opportunities for promotion and job advancements in work and career settings.

Program Entry Information

Program Start

• This program admits students approximately two times a year.
• Students are encouraged to have their high school diploma or GED by graduation, because many employers require this credential as a condition of employment.

Testing Requirements

These requirements are for the AAS degree and are lower than those for the AAS-T degree. Please see the AAS-T Entry Page for AAS-T requirements.

• BTC College Level Math score of 75 or a C grade in MATH 099  .
• Accuplacer Reading Comprehension score of 85 or B grade in RDG 085  , and Accuplacer Sentence Skills score of 86 or B grade in ENGL 092  or C grade in AENGL 100  .

Degree and Certificate Requirements

Instrumentation & Control Technology AAS Degree and Certificate completion requires a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or greater, a minimum grade of C/2.0 for MATH& 141 Precalculus I , and a minimum grade of C-/1.7 for all other required courses. AAS-T Degree requires a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or greater and minimum grade of C-/1.7 for all required program courses and minimum grade of C/2.0 for all academic courses.

Pre-Program Course Requirements

• Completion of Intermediate Algebra (MATH 099) or placement into Pre-Calculus (MATH& 141 Precalculus I ) is a required prerequisite for enrollment in this Program.

Programs

• Instrumentation & Control Technology, AAS

• Instrumentation & Control Technology, AAS-T

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