The program today

Power engineering at Washington State University remains one of the strongest such academic programs in the country. With seven faculty members who teach and conduct research in this field, we have one of the largest power groups among all U.S. engineering colleges. Despite the slowdown in recruiting in the power industry over the past decade, our graduates have continued to be heavily recruited. When Pacific Gas & Electric, based in San Francisco, began hiring entry-level engineers again after a multi-year gap, they named WSU as one of their two preferred universities and have come regularly to Pullman to recruit.

New Research Horizons

Research in power engineering at WSU is at a record level. Other than the power industry, funding is being provided by the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and the Electric Power Research Institute. After the blackouts of summer 1996, WSU was the only university asked to participate in the post-mortem studies. Again, after the summer 1999 blackouts, the Secretary of Energy asked WSU to help with the post-outage study. Recently, WSU has been invited to join the Power System Engineering Research Center (PSerc), which is a National Science Foundation consortium of 11 of the top university power program in the country and about a dozen power companies.

Industry partners

One of the reasons we have maintained both the quality of our program and our excellent reputation is the consistent support we receive from a unique public-private consortium established in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science called the Power Professorship. Industrial members range from small public utility districts to large corporations and investor-owned utilities. Included also are power vendors and consulting companies. Both faculty and students in the School of EECS work closely with these industrial partners on technical projects of direct relevance, as well as to ensure an adequate supply of graduates trained in power engineerin

Changing environment, changing needs

With the deregulation of the electric power industry and the need for learning and adopting competitive business strategies, major changes are underway that will affect the way electricity will be marketed and distributed in the future. Companies are subdividing and restructuring. Companies are merging. Never has a focus on power engineering educational programs been more critical.

The industry needs a new breed of power engineers. They need a pool of hires that is comfortable with innovation and knowledgeable about new technological approaches and methods. Students with an interest in power engineering careers need to be informed and ready to contribute professionally to an environment with totally new engineering requirements relative to planning and operating the power grid, power generation, and power transmission.

WSU is one of the few universities in the country positioned to meet this new challenge. Our comprehensive curriculum includes courses in power systems analysis, power transmission, distribution, and protection. Our faculty are research leaders in these areas. WSU was chosen by NSF as one of the universities to develop the new power engineering curriculum.

New incentives, new assistance

We will seek new resources for scholarships and fellowships to meet the growing need in industry for the new breed of educated power engineer. Attractive financial packages are extremely important for encouraging students who have not yet made the choice of a major to choose power engineering. Additionally, this kind of assistance provides incentives for students to develop leadership and communication skills in elective courses and extracurricular activities for which they could not afford the time while holding jobs to pay for their own support. We recognize that students who can lead and can communicate and work collaboratively with others will be in high demand in a vastly changed, deregulated power industry. Just as a new breed of engineers will be needed to manage the new engineering requirements, so too will be needed a new breed of technological leaders to move the industry smoothly into the next century. WSU is proud of the leaders it has educated, and will seek all resources possible to continue the tradition and prepare students for productive positions to advance industry, society, and the country. To that end, and to ensure our top students will have four years of financial support, the College of Engineering and Architecture provides funding for the first two years of a student's academic career, while the School of

EECS pledges support for the final two years (when the student has become certified as an electrical engineering major) from its own scholarship funds provided by private donors.

Conclusion

Dramatic changes in the utilities industry in the form of deregulation and the development of competitive markets are driving the need for changes in the delivery and support of power engineering education in colleges and universities. Bolstered by consultation and financial assistance from industry partners in the Power Professorship Program, Washington State University is taking steps to meet the challenge of change in its power-engineering curriculum, course delivery methods, and laboratory modernization. In addition, it is leveraging new scholarship and fellowship contributions with expanded commitment of existing resources. The university is dedicated to serving its corporate partners and is grateful for industry's participation in making such service possible.