Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

2022

Pages

1-9

Conference Name

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, June 26-29, 2022, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Abstract

The challenges arising from climate change have never before in human history been more pressing for solutions. Addressing pollution and the transition to clean energies are essential problems to solve in the upcoming decades. The process of transitioning to renewable energies has started already, with some states leading the process. As the development of industries sees a fast growth, the supply of qualified engineers and technicians to support these industries needs to keep up. At the community college level, some efforts have already started to introduce courses on renewable energies as well as boot camps or certifications to prepare the workforce to install and operate renewable energy systems. Four-year universities are catching up with these initiatives, but at a much slower pace, and at the graduate level the pace is even slower than the training initiatives at the undergraduate level. With the development of a major renewable energy industry in the area, the XXX University plans to develop more specific programs in renewable energies and to incorporate along with technical courses some coverage of the business and geopolitical aspects of the renewable energy subject. In anticipation of the actual development of new programs for either undergraduate or graduate students, a pilot course in renewable energies was conducted during the summer of 2021. The course was offered for junior/senior undergraduate students and had a broad presentation of renewable energies, theories, and practices associated with each. For this pilot course, a series of invited speaker lectures were offered. Experts in the field covered technical aspects of solar, wind, and bioenergy, as well as business, legislative and geopolitical aspects. Students taking the course participated in an end-of-semester survey about their perception of renewable energies, the associated industries, and their interest in pursuing jobs related to them. This paper will present the details of the course and the specifics of the pilot conducted this summer, as well as the analysis of the student feedback.

Comments

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© 2022 American Society for Engineering Education.

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Original Publication Citation

Popescu, O., Ayala, O., Flory, I., Fernandez, J., & Jovanović, V. (2022) A pilot course as a step towards a new academic programs in renewable energies [Paper presentation]. 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, Minnesota. https://strategy.asee.org/40670

ORCID

0000-0002-8626-903X (Jovanović)

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