Developments in industrial automation resulting from an integrated infrastructure based on computer and information technologies, advances in robotics research and its applications, and analytic methodologies of operations research have been the main motivation for the establishment of an interdisciplinary graduate program in Systems and Control Engineering in our University as early as 1985. The flexible course program which allows the students to create their own curriculum has been placed in a framework that will make them knowledgeable in the various aspects of systems engineering and automation, not only through courses and seminars but particularly through realistic thesis topics.