The 2026 Engineering Leaders Under 40, motion control architecture, PID noise mitigation and industrial AI led the most-read articles over the past two months.
September’s and October’s top-performing content on Control Engineering was highlighted by the debut and individual profiles of the 2026 Engineering Leaders Under 40, celebrating the rising professionals driving innovation across automation, plant operations and industrial digitalization. Alongside these standout leadership stories, readers zeroed in on essential technical guidance, including strategies for optimizing motion control architecture, resolving process noise in PID loops and applying emerging AI tools to accelerate machine design. Catch up on the month’s most popular articles and industry insights below.
1. Engineering Leaders Under 40: The Class of 2026
Meet the 35 rising professionals whose expertise is helping solve problems, strengthen operations and develop the industry’s next generation of talent.
2. 2026 Engineering Leader Under 40: Joshua Jagnanan, 37
As product manager for low-voltage adjustable-speed drives at Toshiba International Corporation, Joshua combines technical depth, operational leadership and customer focus to drive engineering and business results. He leads a team of associate product managers and application engineers, strengthening execution through training, onboarding, dashboards, standard operating procedures and quoting-quality improvements.
3. 2026 Engineering Leader Under 40: Chandradhar Prasad, 38
Within less than a year of joining NIKO Engineering as principal engineer, Chandra has delivered complex, high-impact engineering at the intersection of power systems, control automation and energy innovation. Leading the MK20 geothermal reinjection pumping station upgrade—a technically demanding project involving new variable-frequency drive (VFD) design and integration, custom interface board design, cascading PID control systems and unmanned automation—demonstrates his technical depth and versatility.
4. Three ways motion control architecture can improve machine performance
Machine design and performance can improve with attention to the machine controller, servo drives and use of servo motor features.
5. PID spotlight, part 33: Managing noise using setpoint gap action
How do I prevent process noise or a sticking control valve from disturbing the rest of my process? What works and how should it be set up?
6. 2026 Engineering Leader Under 40: Avadh Nagaralawala, 37
Avadh is an automation and control systems consultant and a leader in mining and heavy-industry automation. He distinguishes himself by turning frontier ideas into field-proven systems. He engineered a first-of-its-kind digital twin that operates as a live, closed-loop control layer for rare-earth mineral extraction, increasing recovery and reducing operating costs at producers worldwide.
7. 2026 Engineering Leader Under 40: Allan Wilson, 24
Allan has been instrumental in leading controls and automation efforts for a greenfield project, from the detailed design phase through commissioning. He spent 10 months on-site helping start up the plant.
8. 2026 Engineering Leader Under 40: Ashley Pickford, 30
Ashley excels in her primary role in automation and digitalization, but her ability to lead cross-functional teams further distinguishes her. She has quickly become a leader in reliability and quality-improvement initiatives, with Sibelco management, including the CEO, seeking her input and participation in projects involving digitalization, process and automation improvements.
9. 2026 Engineering Leader Under 40: Divya Srikakulapu, 30
Divya is an automation controls engineer and technical leader whose work spans the United States, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Brazil and beyond. She works across PLC and machine-control logic, industrial electrical networks and interfaces, diagnosing and improving every layer of modern automated facilities that empower critical global logistics infrastructure.
10. How integrating new AI tools helps automation, motion control
Cloud robotics and physical artificial intelligence are making machine design and optimization more effective with smarter digital twins and virtualization, as explained at IMTS 2026.
Check out the top articles from September here.
