A multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional approach to prepare industrial engineers to respond to future energy challenges

Abstract

There is a world-wide necessity to increase energy efficiency, finding new alternative sources of energy and assessing the environmental impacts of new renewable energy technologies. Demand for professionals with sustainable energy knowledge is increasing, as employers need graduates who can better respond to energy challenges in all professional and business contexts. This demand will also create green-collar jobs in the industrial sector and in new technology fields. In light of these crucial needs, the University of Texas at El Paso, New Mexico State University, Texas A&M University-Kingsville and Texas State University-San Marcos united efforts to create a regional network of researchers to advance knowledge in renewable energy research and education. This paper introduces the BGREEN (BuildinG a Regional Energy and Educational Network) project and shows how industrial engineers at the different participating institutions will benefit. BGREEN is a multi-disciplinary project which promotes collaboration among different universities, colleges, departments and a federal agency, the United States Department of Agriculture. This type of collaboration is fundamental since the scale and nature of energy challenges requires expertise from a wide variety of disciplines. It has been found that multi-disciplinary approaches to research and education are essential to understanding and resolving complex environmental and social issues. Through BGREEN, students will experience that most real problems are not defined within a single domain but they cross disciplines. This paper highlights the education component of BGREEN and shows how industrial engineering departments can broaden and strengthen their research areas through the type of multi-disciplinary research performed under this project. The paper also shows how the BGREEN model can be easily replicated at other institutions. © 2012 American Society for Engineering Education.