ONR/NSF-Sponsored Workshop: Reforming Electric Energy Systems Curriculum : 3 Workshops; 1st to be held in Wash, DC Feb 12-15 2009

各种政府机构，如能源部，爱迪生电力研究所（股东所有公司的协会）和各种公用事业都担心劳动力老龄化，并预测合格的电气工程师严重短缺。与此同时，本科教育也出现了危机，几十年来课程都没有改变，而工业和公用事业的实践却发生了变化，在某些情况下变化很大。全国大多数电力项目都停滞不前，缩小规模或消失。鉴于大多数公用事业和许多行业的劳动力老龄化，这是一个必须扭转的趋势。该提案的目的是获得NSF的合作和资助，以继续传播明尼苏达大学开发的教育材料和方法。这些教育材料的开发以前由NSF支持，目前由ONR支持。国家科学基金会的支助是要求提供部分与会者旅费，以参加为开展上述传播工作而组织的三次年度讲习班。知识价值：这次课程改革的尝试是激发我们的学生，使他们中的更多人，与目前的速度相比，追求研究生教育和博士研究。通过创建一个教学学者社区，所有教师将有机会在课堂上带来研究的热情，并可能自己进行研究，例如，通过接近他们当地的公用事业。所有学校，无论其规模大小和研究与教学方向，将接触，从而创造一个更大的创造力和创新池。更广泛的影响：通过讲习班促进课程改革的目标是为全国电力能源系统的本科生提供一流的教育。该课程的开发是有效的，无论劳动力短缺的严重程度，无法准确预测，广泛培训本科生，使他们能够灵活地选择就业。通过非常有效地利用教师和助教资源，该课程对全国受过良好教育的毕业生群体产生了广泛的影响。因此，这门课程可以被从主要专注于教学的四年制大学到大型研究型大学的所有学校所采用。将作出特别努力，鼓励为少数群体服务的机构参加在这一项目下举办的讲习班。

Various governmental agencies such the Department of Energy, Edison Electric Institute (an association of shareholder-owned companies) and various utilities are concerned about the aging workforce and are predicting sever shortages of qualified electrical engineers. At the same, there is a crisis in the undergraduate education where the courses have not changed for decades while the industrial and utility practices have changed, in some cases dramatically. Most Electric Power Programs nationwide are stagnating, downsizing or disappearing. This is a trend that must be reversed, given the aging workforce in most utilities and many industries. The objective of this proposal is to obtain NSF collaboration and funding to continue the dissemination of the educational material and approaches developed at the University of Minnesota. The development of these educational materials was previously supported by NSF and is currently supported by ONR. NSF support is request for partial participant travel funding to attend three annual workshops organized for carrying out the above dissemination effort. ONR will be cosponsoring the workshop.Intellectual Merits: The attempt of this curricular reform is to excite our students so more of them, compared to the present rate, pursue graduate education and PhD research. By creating a Community of Teaching Scholars, all instructors will have an opportunity to bring the enthusiasm of research in their classroom and possibly carry out research themselves, for example, by approaching their local utilities. All schools, regardless of their size and research-versus-teaching orientation, will be approached, thereby creating a much larger pool for creativity and innovation. Broader Impacts: The objective of the curriculum reform being promoted through the workshops is to provide first-rate education to undergraduates in the Electrical Energy Systems nationwide. This curriculum has been developed to be effective, regardless of the severity of the workforce shortages that cannot be predicted accurately, to train undergraduates broadly so they can be flexible in their employment choices. This broad impact on well-educated pool of graduates nationwide is made possible by this curriculum by using the faculty and teaching assistant resources very effectively. Therefore, this curriculum can be adopted by the entire spectrum of schools spanning from four-year colleges that primarily focus on teaching to large research universities. A special attempt will be made to encourage minority-serving institutions to participate in the workshops organized under this project.