It occurs to me that I ought to give y'all some detail on how the Process Automation Hall of Fame works.

It was established by my predecessor, Paul Studebaker, in 2001 and three to five process automation luminaries are inducted annually, and profiled in the February issue of Control and on ControlGlobal.com. The award is presented at the WBF North American Conference, which this year will be at the University of Delaware the end of May.

I am pleased to announce the Class of 2011 for the Process Automation Hall of Fame. Elected by their peers in the Hall, these automation professionals have made clear and extensive contributions to the domain of process automation, and are being recognized for their work and careers.

John Berra, recently retired Chairman of Emerson Process Management.

You read it here first-- maybe before the inductees themselves have checked their email.

In an unusually tight voting (usually we take more than one ballot), the inductees of the Process Automation Hall of Fame have chosen the class of 2010...

1. Joe Alford, Joseph Alford LLC and formerly of Eli Lilly

2. John Gerry, Expertune Inc.

3. (tie) Willy Wojsznis, Emerson Process Management and Les Driskell, ValveConsultant

4. Yukata Wakasa, Yokogawa Electric Corporation.

Like the Medieval alchemist Roger Bacon's "talking head" F. Greg Shinskey will soon be providing real time process control expertise through ExperTune. Here's the press release from John Gerry, CEO of Expertune:

It is with deep sadness that I report the passing of my friend Vernon Trevathan. Vernon (who hated to be called Vern) died Sunday in St. Louis, Mo. Here is the message that was sent to the ISA Executive Board, where Vernon was Vice President of the Professional Development Department. ISA director T. S. "Chip" Lee forwarded it to me.

From Dr. Maurice Wilkins, Chairman of WBF:

To the Members and Sponsors of WBF,

We want to wish you a happy 2009, one in which the economy improves over 2008. We have some important news for you, and we'd like to ask you to take the time to read this message.

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to corral the 2008 inductees into the Process Automation Hall of Fame into spending time with me talking about their careers, the automation profession, and the future. Next Monday, March 24th, we'll be having the induction ceremony at the annual Process Automation Hall of Fame banquet (this year sponsored by Yokogawa---thank you very much) at the WBF North American Conference in Valley Forge, PA.

I am delighted to bring you the podcast of this exciting discuss...

I am delighted to announce the 2008 class of inductees to the Process Automation Hall of Fame:

Dr. Dale Seborg, Vice-Chair of the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and co-author, with Hall of Famer Tom Edgar, and D. A. Me...

In a former Masonic Chapel in downto...