Powering a workforce: North Carolina colleges and universities use high-tech classrooms and industry partnerships to prepare the next generation of energy workers.

• Author: Blake, Kathy
• Position: SPONSORED SECTION: ENERGIZED

Inside UNC Charlottes 20,000-squarefoot Energy Production and Infrastructure Center, professors immerse engineering students in classwork, research and laboratory studies. "We have support for students through EPIC funding, internships with industries and graduate fellowships, so it's a wide variety of programs for students to get them involved in the energy sector," says David Young, EPIC's interim director. "All of this is aimed at workforce development and getting students excited about careers and projects in energy that make them better prepared to take these jobs and career opportunities with companies in Charlotte, the region and anywhere."

The Charlotte region is a global hub for energy companies. EPIC helps train their workforce. It's one of several university and college programs across the Carolinas that are embracing the need for skilled workers in this rapidly changing industry.

"When you talk about energy jobs, these are jobs that aren't going away' says Jay Potter, former Charlotte-based Central Piedmont Community College dean and current career and technical education workforce consultant. "We have to not only create infrastructure in new areas like solar but enhance the infrastructure we have. And that can only be done with a quality workforce. This is our chance to address that economic mobility and make sure people are aware of the opportunities and get the proper education to have people commit to hiring them. Someone has to make the machines; someone has to keep the machines running."

Mike Horrigan is a consultant for E4 Carolinas, a Charlotte-based trade group that represents energy businesses in the Carolinas, and principal of Charlotte-based human-resources company M/H/R Services LLC. "Industry, education and government must work together," he says. "Industry will get the workers. Education will have people for career-readiness programs. And in Charlotte, there are upward mobility implications in terms of helping folks left behind by the economic recovery. Instead of training for jobs that will be automated out, we're trying to update and redigest the jobs observations. [Those who] set their sights on going to work for an energy company like Duke or Siemens or Piedmont Natural Gas or AREVA, [they're] going to have to have some technical credentials that say [they] can do the job once [they're] hired. The days of industry training that is four years long and paves the way for you to see if you can do the job...