REMRSEC Renewable Energy Educational Outreach

Education and Outreach: Barb Moskal
Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU): Chuck Stone
Curriculum Development: Tom Furtak
Energy Minor: Jim McNeil
Assessment: Vincent Kuo, Patrick Kohl and Ron Miller
NREL Collaborators: Cynthia Howell and Linda Lung

REMRSEC educational and outreach activities are directed at preparing students for solar energy and renewable energy careers. Our education activities expose students to solar and renewable energy concepts at a young age and prepare them, throughout their K-12 education and into college and graduate school, for potential careers in these fields. The goals of the renewable energy educational plan are: to prepare undergraduate students to embark on careers in renewable energy fields; to provide undergraduate students with research experiences in renewable energy; to expose elementary, middle school, high school students, and teachers to the concepts of renewable energy; and, to improve the recruitment and retention of female and minority undergraduate students, graduate students, research associates, faculty, and staff.

REMRSEC spearheaded the creation of a Renewable Energy Minor at the Colorado School of Mines. An undergraduate renewable energy minor has been added to the curriculum, and a renewable energy elective course sequence for graduate students is in the planning stages. In 2009, REMRSEC started a Renewable Energy Research Experience For Undergraduate (REU) program that has attracted talented college students across the U.S. and abroad. The summer REU program includes cutting edge research, seminars on energy topics, field trips to NREL, and interactions with renewable energy companies. Renewable energy projects are quite attractive to science and engineering students, especially minorities and under-represented groups. The REU program in the summer of 2010 attracted over twenty students, of whom more than half were women and two were minorities.

In the Center’s K-12 Outreach Program, graduate students work directly with middle school mathematics and science teachers on activities ranging from classroom presentations to assisting students in completing hands-on scientific experiments related to solar energy and related renewable energy applications. The majority of the schools involved are predominantly Hispanic. Many also have a large African American population. The K-12 teacher training workshops provided renewable energy modules to over 30 teachers in minority serving schools.

The Center has developed a Mentoring Program for all of the postdoctoral research associates in the Center, whether they work at Colorado School of Mines, NREL, or institutional partners. Postdoctoral research associates from across the Mines campus are invited to take part in these activities. The REMRSEC post-doctoral mentoring program is a group mentoring program that targets Center post-docs and graduate students.

REMRSEC and its faculty actively participate in local and Colorado renewable energy organizations and use this website to keep the general public informed on Center’s solar and renewable energy research, education and outreach initiatives.