GOING TO SCHOOL FOR NEW ENERGY

The most popular undergraduate program at the Oregon Institute of Technology for the last four years has been the Bachelor of Science degree in New Energy. The first degree-recipients will graduate in the spring. Recruiting for their services is aggressive.

Mac Lewis, graduating 30-year-old 2nd-B.S. student, Oregon Institute of Technology New Energy program: “There’s all sorts of stuff out there for us…We can go into energy auditing, solar design, energy modeling…There are engineering firms looking for people like me. Photovoltaic manufacturers are coming here. Wind energy companies. There are nonprofit groups that are interested. And that’s just what’s going on around Portland.”

Similar degree programs are emerging at universities all over the country. New Energy academic studies range from economics to public policy to engineering to architecture and design. Community colleges are instituting 1-year certification programs and 2-year A.A. degrees in clean-energy system building and installation, energy efficiency and installation of solar and wind systems.

Starting salaries nationally are $35,000 to $45,000 for 2-year degrees and $45,000 to $60,000 for 4-year degrees.

New Energy offers not just jobs, but good paying jobs - for the properly trained. (click to enlarge)

Majoring in Renewable Energy
Keith Schneider, March 26, 2008 (NY Times)

WHO
The Oregon Institute of Technology (Robert Bass, assistant professor/program director); State University of New York in Canton; Illinois State University in Normal

The upside (growth potential) in the New Energy (RE) job market is huge. (click to enlarge)

WHAT
The first graduating class of Oregon Institute of Technology’s 4-year degree program in New Energy systems, the first such program in the U.S., will graduate this year. Many more such educational programs have followed and are following.

WHEN
- The first Oregon Institute of Technology New Energy systems class graduates this spring.
- A State University of New York 4-year program in New Energy began in 2006.
- An Illinois State University 4-year New Energy program begins in November 2008.

click to enlarge

WHERE
Oregon Institute of Technology is in Portland, Ore.
The State University of New York program is at the Canton, NY., campus.
The Illinois State University program is at the Normal, Ill., campus.

WHY
- There are 50 students who will get their bachelor of science degrees in New Energy systems from the Oregon Institute of Technology this spring.
- To graduate, the students were given basic knowledge in engineering, electrical circuits, motors and generators, thermodynamics, heat transfer and the language of computers and subsequently took specialized courses in photovoltaics research and technology, wind, biomass, hydropower and geothermal energy development.
- The students will work in New Energy design, engineering, installation, auditing and programming. Two students are already in full-time New Energy jobs.
- Besides the programs in Oregon, New York and Illinois, there is a 4-year program at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., in appropriate technology (environmentally and socially responsible approach to engineering) with courses in solar-building design and construction and green-building drafting, design, woodworking, metalworking, computer literacy and architecture.

Oregon Institute of Technology (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Robert Bass, assistant professor/program director, Oregon Institute: “We’re constantly getting phone calls from renewable-energy companies who advertise jobs…A student graduating from this program has a range of choices about where they want to start their careers. And starting salaries are very good.”
- James L. Sweeney, director/Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency and professor/management science and engineering, Stanford: “Stanford University has established several energy and environment research and teaching programs — almost all of these programs are interdisciplinary…”