Morrisville State helps train students for renewable-energy trade

MORRISVILLE, N.Y. — Morrisville State College announced it is involved in a new effort to help train high-school students in the renewable-energy field.

Morrisville State, which is part of the State University of the New York (SUNY), on Thursday distributed a news release about the training.

The school hosted a renewable-energy workshop that focused on training teachers how to install solar-thermal systems that will generate hot water.

A total of 11 high school and BOCES teachers, representing more than 30 school districts, gathered for the four-day workshop.

BOCES is short for Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

Morrisville State’s Renewable Energy Training Center (RETC) hosted two of the four workshop days, the school said.

Philip Hofmeyer, assistant professor of renewable energy, led the instruction at the RETC.

Tech Valley High School in Rensselaer, near Albany, hosted the other two days, training teachers to focus more on incorporating renewable-energy topics into their new Common Core classes, Hofmeyer said.  

The topics included wind energy, solar photovoltaics, hydro energy, and basic electrical theory, according to Morrisville State.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, or NYSERDA, provided a $200,000 grant for a Questar III BOCES project entitled, “Improving Bridges for Clean Energy Training from High School to College and Career,” which included the workshop, according to Morrisville State.  

Questar III BOCES is located in Castleton-on-Hudson in Rensselaer County.

The workshop was part of a collaborative effort among high-school educators at Questar III BOCES and Tech Valley High School; plus educators from Morrisville State, SUNYIT in Marcy, and SUNY ESF in Syracuse.

The collaboration also involved companies, such as MESO Inc., of Troy, and Minneapolis, Minn.–based KidWind, to weave virtual education with hands-on instruction to “more effectively” train high-school students in renewable energy and sustainability, according to Morrisville State.

MESO provides “subscription-based, real-time geophysical information services and forecasts for clients in energy management, agriculture, construction, and tourism,” according to its website.

The website for KidWind describes it as an international project that has trained more than 7,000 teachers and “impacted more than 500,000 students” since its launch in 2002.

Morrisville’s RETC is specifically assisting with renewable-energy curriculum development, determining equipment needs, and training teachers how to use the equipment.

“Morrisville offers outstanding facilities and instructors for this training which is essential for teachers to be able to know how to use and also teach the use the equipment,” Glenn Van Knowe, project manager and research scientist at MESO, Inc., said in the Morrisville news release.

During the workshop, high-school instructors used a lab manual, presentations, and classroom exercises that Hofmeyer created as part of the grant.

The funding will also pay for materials to incorporate these hands-on activities into their coursework, the school said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com