Energetic studies

Today, there is a lot of benchmarks to gauge an issue’s relevance. Google counts. Protests. News clippings. Speeches from politicians. College courses. 

Wait, what was that last one? 

Post-secondary curriculum has come a long way from Introduction to Elizabethan Poetry. Nothing against Mr. Shakespeare, but today’s students need to be prepared for tomorrow’s challenges. Increasingly, that means energy. Recent years have seen the proliferation of courses focused on energy on campuses across North America.

Take the new class at MIT as an example. The Physics of Energy is no freshman credit-filler, but crafted for the next generation of scientists. Instead of the traditional mechanical or electrical engineering focus, the course focuses on the thermodynamics of energy. 

The purpose is to prepare MIT graduates for careers in science – “giving them the ability to intelligently evaluate the science behind difficult political, economic and social issues surrounding energy.” In other words, acknowledging the old curriculum was just that – old. 

“New” energy courses are springing up at colleges across North America. Washington State University is launching a course in renewable energy. “Students will examine cutting-edge technologies for harnessing the power of the wind, sun, biomass, fuel cells and more.”

The course is geared for senior-level Engineering students. The focus will be on design and construction of wind turbines, solar photovoltaic arrays, biomass generation and hydrogen fuel cells, public policy and ecological impact of conventional and alternative energy. 

Indeed, colleges and universities are acknowledging that in order to change the energy industry to a more sustainable model, they first must change the curriculum. Across North America, the next generation of scientists are benefitting from a lot more educational resources – and new thinking -  on energy.