News

In the latest example of how PSU's Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science is working to better meet the region's needs - and partnering with industry - an expanded electrical power engineering program is being introduced over the next three years by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE).

Courses designed to help seniors, graduate students and working professionals from local utilities and manufacturing plants are being added to ECE's curriculum. The pilot program was expanded at the request of three Northwest utilities - the Bonneville Power Administration, Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp, which locally operates Pacific Power and Light. The utilities were involved in planning course content and helped by providing adjunct professors to teach the classes, says James Morris, ECE Department chair.

ECE made a decision midsummer to respond to a pressing industry need, Morris says. With the aging of the current generation of veteran power engineers, the nation's utilities and manufacturers increasingly are concerned about a shortage of qualified "double E's" - electrical engineers - and other power system managers.

Four new courses will be introduced this year and next, expanding the list of senior- and graduate-level power courses traditionally offered at PSU. For details about the courses, please go to: www.ece.pdx.edu/Courses/PowerSystemsProgram.html

With little more than word-of-mouth promotion, interest this year in the power- engineering program is spiking. This fall there are nearly 40 students enrolled in ECE441/551 (electrical energy system design), the most ever, says Hamid Sharifnia, principal electrical engineer for PacifiCorp in Portland and an adjunct professor who has taught the courses at PSU.

Sharifnia explains industry's urgency: The shortage of experienced power engineers in the age bracket of 35 to 50 has been a growing concern for several years but has become more intense. "A large percentage of power engineers are 50 years or older," Sharifnia adds.

According to Sharifnia, two factors have stirred industry's interest in working with PSU: the recent blackout in the Northeast and rising energy prices, which increase the demand for energy-conservation improvements.

The BPA's John Brunke, Ph.D, another adjunct professor, agrees on the need. "Forty percent of our [BPA's] engineering staff is eligible for retirement in the next two years."

Brunke, who serves as principal high-voltage equipment engineer for BPA, says half the students in his high-voltage engineering class are working professionals, many of whom are seeking a master's degree.

BPA is helping to support the PSU program by paying Bruncke's teaching salary. Longer term, industry may subsidize a full-time faculty member or endow a chair for power engineers.

There also are employment and research opportunities in local industry for graduate students and professors, Brunke says, noting that BPA has one of the finest high- voltage laboratories in the United States.

One undergraduate says he appreciates the program's focus on relevant examples. "It's the first course in the engineering program to deal with some of the differences when working with high power instead of small electronics and integrated circuits," says Jay Larsen. "The instructor provides lots of real-world examples of how problems are normally solved in the power industry."

Larsen, who is enrolled in the energy systems design series, says Bruncke is "one of the best instructors I have had since being at PSU. He explains the theory, but emphasizes the problem solving techniques and reasonable estimations we can use."

Click here for more registration information: www.pdx.edu/registration.

Contact: Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science, 503-725-4631