Stony Brook U introducing high school students to careers in offshore wind
As the state of New York races toward a 2050 deadline to reduce emissions by as much as 85%, Stony Brook University is doing its part to cultivate the future workforce that widespread electrification will require. But the university and its industry partners aren’t just focusing on college grads -- they’re looking to grab the interest of high schoolers. As industry engagement managers continue to see their partnering companies struggle to find talent, it’s an avenue more universities could consider as one of their corporate relations tools.
Reaching into high schools with new engagement initiatives -- and plugging itself into existing state programs, working with community colleges, and leaning into its network of corporate partners -- Stony Brook is introducing teenagers to labs, equipment, technology, con- cepts, students, and faculty with the hopes that they will consider an education and career in off- shore wind energy or an adjacent field.
Stony Brook, a regional hub for innovation and industry partnerships, also wants to establish itself as the top destination for students looking at four-year degrees as well as community college graduates looking to top off their associate degrees with a micro-credential that gets them into the wind energy industry. New York, faced with increasing attrition in the utility workforce as it veers away from fossil fuels, needs as many people as possible in the talent pipeline, and needs them now. Particularly, New York is in need of wind turbine technicians, who don’t need a four-year degree but do need an associates degree and additional training.
In response to both the immediate and the long-term need, Stony Brook’s Office of Economic Development started hosting lab tours in March 2023, in which high school students come to campus to visit the Research & Development Park, which houses the Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT), the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC), and the Center for Integrated Electric Energy Systems (CIEES).
It’s an eye opener for students and their teachers, who make the trek from across the Long Island region. The move to bring high schoolers to campus was an organic outgrowth of the State University of New York Master Teachers program, in which K-12 STEM teachers engage in additional training, outreach, and education over a four-year period of events and research, the aim of which is to incentivize teachers to optimize the STEM curriculum in their K-12 classrooms.
When some of the teachers in the program visited Stony Brook and saw what it had to offer, it sparked the student outreach effort. “Teachers found this really interesting and asked how they could bring their students here, and we thought, ‘Okay, maybe we can do tours,’” says Derek O’Connor, Stony Brook’s workforce development manager. “We created this field trip model where schools come in, visit the labs, and speak with the researchers.
Our graduate students and researchers really enjoy being able to talk about the work they’re doing as well as the educational pathway at Stony Brook. They give students an opportunity to see what it looks like if they pursue a career in energy, chemistry, physics, AI, robotics, battery technology, or wireless technology.”
A waiting list
Economic development staff have already hosted seven school groups and plan on continuing the program, which now has a waiting list. With workforce development being a key driver of the program, private industry partners play an important role in both funding the outings and participating. Stony Brook partners including the Institute for Workforce Advancement, GenH, Unique Electric Solutions, Dayton T. Brown, and Amogy have all participated in the tours, as has global off- shore wind company Orsted.
During the tours, the businesses furnish lunch, and their representatives speak to the students about clean energy and what kind of training and skills the industry demands. They even talk to students about the soft skills needed to be a productive member of the workforce. Students also get a chance to speak with senior leaders at Stony Brook, researchers, graduate students and the frontline personnel and subject-matter experts who guide the tours.
Other economic development initiatives focused on the younger crowd include a hackathon for high school students, and a mini capstone showcase for middle school students on offshore wind and coastal communities, supported by windfarm company Vineyard Wind.
Branding also plays a role in Stony Brook’s programs, as students leave campus with swag which then filters out into the larger community. And though the programs are student-facing, Stony Brook staff have gotten a lot out of the new pivot to high school students.
“This has been a learning experience for our internal teams, our lab directors and their staff,” O’Connor says. “They’ve been able to improve their presentation skills. From our first tour to now, they’ve gotten better at communicating with students, not using so much technical jargon. Some of the tours have become quite fun.
This has helped our researchers, and our own teams better explain science and engineering. It’s been a real upskilling for everyone.”
Tailored engagements and offerings
Another program set to launch this summer is called A Taste of the Trades, and it focuses on underserved high school students. In this program, students work 25 hours a week at $16 an hour over a seven-week summer course focused on wind and solar energy, as well as battery technology. They then return to high school once summer is over, bringing what they’ve learned back to their continued STEM coursework.
The program, essentially a crash course in various forms of renewable energy, the power grid, infrastructure management, and environ- mental justice, was formed in partnership with the Suffolk County Department of Labor, the Brookhaven National Lab, and Suffolk County Community College (SCCC).
The initial cohort will be composed of 20 students who, in addition to the wages, will also receive essential wraparound services, such as transportation and food. The students will spend two weeks at Stony Brook learning about offshore wind and power integration; two weeks at Brookhaven where they’ll learn the fundamentals of solar power and battery storage; two weeks at an SCCC manufacturing lab, where they’ll learn the basics of soldering, welding and CNC machining; and one week touring Long Island power plants and infra- structure sites.
“When we survey businesses about their primary challenges, we hear workforce, work- force, workforce,” says Peter Donnelly, associate vice president for technology partnerships. “Our NYS-sponsored programs have a mission to assist NY businesses that includes workforce development. This was an opportunity to expand the work we do in an area of exceptional need. With Derek, we found the perfect fit, so we jumped in and have been on an expanding journey ever since.”
Leaning into its partnering initiatives, Stony Brook was recently awarded a $300,000 grant through the Offshore Wind Training Institute to build an offshore wind HVDC power integration laboratory at the AERTC. The lab will be used for a course to train students who have earned their associates degree but need more hands-on, non-credit training for a potential career in off- shore wind. In addition to Stony Brook, students from Suffolk County Community College, Nassau Community College, and Farmingdale State College are qualified to enroll in the course pursuant to a micro-credential.
“What we’re trying to do is make sure that we can tailor engagements and offerings to students at any aptitude level, at any grade level, and on any pathway -- and that they think immediately of Stony Brook and its Office of Economic Development,” O’Connor says. “We don’t just offer advanced degrees and PhDs. We also have hands-on technical offerings for the future workforce for the electrification that’s coming to New York.”
Contact O’Connor at derek.oconnor@stonybrook.edu; contact Donnelly at info@cewit.org.
