Pitt Nuclear Engineering Program Nets Grants in Federal Effort to Enhance Nuclear Energy Education
Western Pennsylvania's only nuclear engineering track receives $750,000 to expand program and help meet growing demand for nuclear engineers
As part of a federal
effort to expand the U.S.'s nuclear energy workforce, the University of
Pittsburgh received three government grants totaling $750,000 to bolster the
nuclear engineering undergraduate and graduate certificate programs based in
Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) recently awarded 60 institutions nearly $20 million in Nuclear Education
Grants meant to support course development, scholarships and fellowships, and
faculty recruitment for nuclear energy-related programs.
Pitt's two-year-old nuclear engineering certificate program-the only such track
in Western Pennsylvania-and Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania were the only
institutions in the state to receive an award. They join such institutions as
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, and Virginia Tech
in obtaining NRC support.
"These grants signify that the University of Pittsburgh is becoming a
major player in nuclear engineering education and in meeting the workforce and
research needs for the nuclear renaissance in the United States," said
Larry R. Foulke, director of Pitt's nuclear engineering program, which includes
the graduate and undergraduate certificate tracks.
The NRC grants will be instrumental in expanding the nuclear program's research
and teaching capability, Foulke said. Pitt will use a $450,000 Faculty
Development grant to broaden the program to include nuclear-oriented faculty
research in addition to the current emphasis on educating students in reactor
operations and safety. A $200,000 grant will go toward establishing
undergraduate scholarships, and a second-year award of $100,000 will promote
the expansion of the graduate-level certificate program's distance-learning
component. That builds on an initial $200,000 NRC grant in 2007 used to create
a distance-learning portion, a unique aspect of Pitt's graduate certificate
geared toward students across Pennsylvania and offers further education to
nuclear engineers already in the workplace, Foulke said.
Westinghouse Electric Company and FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company
submitted letters of support to the NRC endorsing Pitt's program as a key
source of the trained professionals both companies increasingly seek. With its
unique concentration of nuclear engineering experts, Western Pennsylvania is
emerging as a focal point of nuclear power's budding resurgence in light of the
rising cost of oil and the political and environmental concerns associated with
fossil fuels.
Pitt nuclear engineering students work closely with professionals from
Westinghouse, one of the world's largest vendors of nuclear reactor technology;
the Bechtel Bettis Inc. naval nuclear propulsion research laboratory in West
Mifflin; and FirstEnergy, which operates the Beaver Valley Power Station
nuclear power plant in Shippingport. In addition, an advisory committee of
engineers and managers from these three companies took part in designing the
curriculum to ensure that students learn the most relevant and up-to-date
information, and experts from those companies also serve as adjunct professors.
There is always newsworthy research and events happening in the Swanson School of Engineering.
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