The University of Connecticut and Georgia Institute of Technology will develop a workforce training program for energy-related advanced manufacturers.
The universities are receiving nearly $4 million over five years from the federal Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to lead their new master’s-level training programs. The U.S. Department of Energy announced the funding last month as one solution to the workforce shortages experienced by early-stage technology companies.
UConn is receiving about $1.25 million to advance its program, according to the DOE.
The effort will be led by mechanical engineering professor Ugur Pasaogullari, who is also interim director of the university’s Center for Clean Energy Engineering — an umbrella for most of the university’s energy-related research, training, education and outreach programs.
The Storrs campus is also home to the Additive Manufacturing Innovation Center, a partnership between UConn and Pratt & Whitney that opened in 2013.
That center uses electron beams to melt metals and build three-dimensional objects in a layer-by-layer process. It’s affiliated with UConn’s Fraunhofer Center for Energy Innovation — where students and faculty research energy storage and management — and the Center for Clean Energy Engineering.
The first class of five or six students will begin in the fall, with more students added each year, according to UConn.
Students will choose either a master’s in science or a master’s in engineering degree and then choose a track in either advanced materials, processing, or sensing and controls.
Students will finish the program by interning with a manufacturing company.
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