A Summer of Energetic Schooling with SBU (and Friends)

Power players from across regional industry and academia have joined forces this summer to give disadvantaged students – and Long Island socioeconomics – an energetic boost.

Stony Brook University, the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Melville-based construction kingpin Haugland Group are just some of the names you know backing Summer Youth Employment Program: A Taste of the Trades, a comprehensive seven-week effort designed to introduce Long Island students to the vast worlds of clean-energy production and infrastructure development – and to prepare a future workforce for the Island’s vital role in the nationwide green economy.

In collaboration with BNL, Suffolk County Community College and the Suffolk County Department of Labor, Licensing and Consumer Affairs, Stony Brook University Economic Development is overseeing the program, which is no simple summer camp. Participants (20 high school juniors from NYSERDA-designated underserved school districts) are being paid – $16 per hour, four hours per day, for seven weeks – to learn about construction, energy transmission and other key components of the regional economy, in hopes that they’ll pursue further development in college and then stick around to ply those trades here on Long Island.

Derek O’Connor: How I spent my summer vacation.

On their busy agenda: two weeks at Upton-based BNL learning the fundamentals of solar power and energy storage, two weeks at SBU studying offshore wind and power-grid essentials and two weeks at SCCC with hands-on exposure to advanced manufacturing (including CNC machining, soldering and welding), with the Haugland Group providing transportation to and from each locale.

The program’s seventh week is scheduled to include visits to active Long Island infrastructure sites and energy facilities, including a day at National Grid’s Northport Power Station, another at Haugland Group’s bustling headquarters and a stop at Bay Shore-based precast and cast-iron mainstay Roman Stone Construction Co.

“Economic Development coordinated all of this and recruited all the partners,” noted Derek O’Connor, workforce development manager for SBU Economic Development. “The goal is for students to get an introduction not just to renewable energy, but to trade-based occupations in the energy and infrastructure space for emerging opportunities here on Long Island.

“It gives them exposure to multiple career and education pathways,” O’Connor added, “including time spent at a community college, a national laboratory and active infrastructure sites.”

The last day of the two-week SBU leg is slated to include Offshore Wind Open House and Union Apprenticeship Awareness Day, an Aug. 1 showcase hosted by SBU’s Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology. The free public event will unite representatives of NYSERDA, BNL and other stakeholders – including Long Island-based labor unions – for a confab about the region’s burgeoning offshore-wind industry and related training and apprenticeship programs.

Among the attractions will be virtual-reality headgear – rented by SBU Economic Development with financial support from the Long Island Chapter of the Workforce Development Institute – programmed to simulate wind-turbine technician programs, allowing wearers to virtually climb a gigantic ocean-based turbine, look around, even perform maintenance tasks.

“This event provides those with an interest in hands-on, trade-based careers the opportunity to interact with skilled union leadership in a high-demand, emerging industry,” O’Connor noted. “Similarly, with the developers, utilities and infrastructure companies present, attendees can learn about offshore wind, ask questions about projects in their towns and experience innovative technology being utilized, such as virtual reality.”

The seven-week Taste of the Trades effort wraps up back at CEWIT, with a final-day roundup sponsored by Massachusetts-based offshore-wind pioneer Eversource Energy.

Power up: A visit to National Grid’s Northport Power Station is part of the comprehensive training program.

With the New York Power Authority and SBU’s Division of Student Affairs providing lunches for program participants and the university’s Center for Integrated Electric Energy Systems rounding out the content, the program presents an all-inclusive opportunity for vulnerable students to discover educational and professional futures they might not otherwise consider.

And that’s “critical for the success and growth of the offshore-wind industry on Long Island, from both a technology and workforce perspective,” according to SBU Ecosystem Growth and Impact Director David Hamilton.

“We are at the precipice of a new and exciting industry,” Hamilton, also interim director of the CIEES, told Innovate Long Island. “Working with NYSERDA and the offshore-wind providers in this manner allows Stony Brook University to be at the forefront of training and workforce-development efforts, leading to another economic boom for the region.”