Engineering pioneers green ed

Sustainable energy jobs are being created all over the US in efforts to conserve the planet's dwindling fossil fuel resources.

The American Solar Energy Society predicts that by the year 2030, the number of green jobs available will skyrocket to 40 million, proposing one in four workers will be in a green energy job.

This trend has not gone unnoticed by universities. Programs featuring sustainable energy are popping up all over the country. The University of North Dakota is among these energy forward institutions, taking the initiative by creating the country's first graduate studies program in Sustainable Energy Engineering (SEE). Around the world, the graduate degree is offered only at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, Aalborg University in Denmark, the University of Adelaide in Australia, and University of Sarajevo in Bosnia Herzegovina.

The program, created through the cooperation of the UND's Graduate School and School of Engineering and Mines, prepares students for careers linked with sustainable energy. "Sustainable energy production is a growing part of the engineering field," explains Director of Sustainable Energy Engineering Graduate Studies, Frank Bowman. "Students entering this field will find the challenge of improving energy efficiency and making it economically feasible." Sustainable Energy Engineering concentrates on the production and improvement of technology for energy sources such as bio-fuels, wind and solar power. Students can also focus their studies in "energy public policy and commercialization" says Bowman. "The curriculum is not fixed. We want it to be flexible for students so they can conduct research specific to their needs."

The SEE Masters Program features new courses including Clean Coal Technologies, Process Design and Feasibility Assessment of Sustainable Technologies, and Special Topics in Sustainable Engineering. Currently, there are no plans to hire new faculty members to teach the courses. Bowman explains that the present faculty members are highly qualified and have more than enough experience to teach the latest course additions.

The program itself is completed and ready for implementation. "The earliest we could admit students into the program is this spring," reports Bowman. Both in-state and out of state students have expressed interest in the masters program, some already conducting research that would fit under the degree's requirements.

"We have students working on converting corn and canola oils into jet fuel," said Bowman. "There is also research being conducted with carbon capture to create clean coal that could be utilized by the university."

Bowman remains confident in the program's future success at the university. In the end, the program's main goal in improving sustainable energy, as stated in the requirements, relies on creating technology and alternative energies that will "support society in the future and for generations to come."