Some of the most exciting interactions between mathematics and engineering are occurring in the area of analysis and control of uncertain, multivariable, and nonlinear dynamical systems. While changing technology has made control and dynamical systems theory increasingly relevant to a much broader class of problems, the interdisciplinary nature of this area means that it no longer has a natural home exclusively or even primarily within any one of the traditional engineering disciplines.
Automatic control is an enormously successful field that affects every aspect of our lives.
A combination of technological developments, economic pressures, and research advances has promoted control into a central position in technology, and over the next several decades, the impact of automatic control systems will continue to grow. The rapid development of dynamical systems theory as an intellectual discipline over the past ten years has been equally striking. While research in both control and dynamical systems is inherently interdisciplinary and crosses many traditional engineering and scientific boundaries, their relationship is much deeper. As theoretical disciplines, they are moving together rapidly. The mathematical background required to do research in either control or dynamical systems is nearly identical and can be difficult to obtain within traditional curricula in engineering and mathematics.