PSERC
Aging Workforce: Maintaining the
Engineering Expertise Needed to
Keep the Grid Reliable
Dennis Ray, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Power Systems Engineering Research Center
NERC Long-Term Reliability Assessment Workshop
August 16, 2007
Background
• Power Systems Engineering Research
Center (PSERC - http://www.pserc.org)
• Mission: “Empowering minds to engineer the
future electric energy system”
• 13 university consortium collaborating with
industry (about 35 members) conducting
research in power markets, power systems
and T&D technologies
• Research: 40 researchers, 60 graduate
students, 20 projects
• Students: 450 undergraduates, 140 masters,
120 doctorate
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Background
• IEEE Power Engineering Society (PES –
http://www.ieee.org/power/)
• Worldwide, non-profit association of more
than 23,000 professionals engaged in electric
power engineering
• Provides world’s largest forum
for sharing the technological developments
for developing standards
for educating industry members and the public
• Formed Workforce Team to address aging
workforce issues
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The Aging Power Industry Workforce
700
Number of Employees
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
18-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 61-65
65+
Employee Age Group
Now
5 years out
10 years out
Source: Ray, Dennis and Bill Snyder. "Strategies to Address the Problem of Exiting Expertise in the Electric Power Industry."
Proceedings of the 39th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. January 2006.
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The reliability of the North American electric
utility grid is dependent on the accumulated
experience and technical expertise of those
who design and operate the system. As the
rapidly aging workforce leaves the industry
over the next five to ten years, the challenge
to the electric utility industry will be to fill this
void…
2006 Long-Term Reliability Assessment
NERC
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Response Strategies
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Expanding the “pipeline” of new hires
Recruiting and retention
Improving image of power careers
Workforce planning and job design
System automation
Knowledge retention
Rehiring retirees
Outsourcing
Public policy barriers
6
Our industry is coming to the
realization that recruiting and
retaining the best people is top
priority.
Wanda Reder, President-Elect, IEEE PES,
VP, S&C Electric, in “Meeting the Twin
Challenges of Education and an Aging
Workforce in the Electric Power Industry.”
The CIP Report. Nov. 2006.
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Expanding the Educational Pipeline
• Students: Encourage interest in power-related
careers and overcome access barriers
• Infrastructure: Build a sustainable educational
infrastructure to educate students to meet the
requirements of power-related careers
• Analysis: Engage in collaborative thinking
about the most productive and cost-efficient
ways to build the education pipeline.
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Students
• Undergraduate student interest in engineering not
growing as fast as total number of undergraduates
• Diversity in engineering remains an issue (reference
U.S. population figures in 2004: 38.3% people of color,
48.5% female)
40
35
30
Engineering at
Universities
Engr Students
of Color
Females in
Engineering
25
Percent
20
15
10
5
0
1995
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2004
Source: Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities in Science
and Engineering, National Science Foundation, 2007
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Power Engineering Student Trends
2005/6 vs. 2001/2 Academic Year
• Undergraduate enrollments in elective
power classes declined from about 3,500
to 3,300.
• Masters: down from 1,600 to 1,400
• Doctorate: rose from 800 to 900.
• International students are now about 59%
of all graduate students.
• Growing interest in “energy systems”
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Source: IEEE Power Engineering Education Committee Survey
Results for 2005-06 Academic Year.
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Declining EE Undergraduate
Enrollments (Univ. of Wisc.)
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DOE Recommendations
• Foster math and science education
• Build interest in energy-related careers
• Notes:
• Wide-ranging state and national programs are
addressing those objectives.
• Links to power careers are likely improvable.
• Where would it be most helpful for the
electric power industry to get more
involved?
Workforce Trends in the Electric Utility Industry,
U.S. DOE, August 2006.
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Middle School Education Materials
Lesson materials and Web applets from TCIP Project
(http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/projects/tcip/)
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Power Engineering Image
• When you think of power engineering, what
comes to mind?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Exciting (58%)
Critical to society (55%)
Lots of opportunities (51%)
Future minded (43%)
Relevant (40%)
Boring (2%)
• What image is the electric power industry
communicating today? Should it change?
Source: IEEE PES International Survey
of Power Engineering Students (June 2007)
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Career-Choice Decision Factors
• What made you decide on your career
path?
• Interesting career (67%)
• Opportunity to help solve significant societal
challenges (38%)
• Make the world a better place to live (33%)
• Good pay opportunities (30%)
• High likelihood of getting a job (20%)
• What can be done to make recruiting and
retention efforts more effective?
Source: IEEE PES International Survey
of Power Engineering Students (June 2007)
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Influential People in Career Choices
• Who influenced your career choice?
•
•
•
•
•
Guidance counselor/mentor/teacher (26%)
Talking with people in the industry (22%)
Parent’s suggestions (12%)
Friend’s suggestions (6%)
Media (2%)
• How we better target our recruiting efforts
on the key influencers of career choices?
Source: IEEE PES International Survey
of Power Engineering Students (June 2007)
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PES-Careers
• IEEE PES’ upcoming on-line job opportunities
service uniquely designed for power engineering
students (http://PES-Careers.org)
• As a service to U.S. and Canadian students and their
future employers
• To help address emerging engineering workforce
challenges
• To facilitate collaboration among industry, government
and academia to provide a quality education for the next
generation of power engineers.
• Anticipated to go-live in late August
• Developed with PSERC’s assistance
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Education System Infrastructure
• Institutions
• Universities
• Engineering Technology Schools (community
colleges, etc.)
• Other providers (consultants, etc.)
• Outcomes
• Degrees (associate, bachelors, etc.)
• Professional Development (CEU’s, etc.)
• Venue (in-residence, on-site, distance
education, etc.)
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Educational Infrastructure
• What needs are best met by each
education model?
• What changes in the education system
should be made to better prepare the
workforce?
• What types of industry-governmenteducation partnerships are needed to build
and sustain the infrastructure?
• What are best practices today? What types
are working well in other industries?
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Without strong support for strategic
research in power systems engineering and
without qualified replacements for retiring
faculty, the strength of our Nation’s
university-based power engineering
programs will wane, and along with them,
the foundation for innovation in the power
sector to meet our energy challenges in the
21st century.
Workforce Trends in the Electric Utility Industry,
U.S. DOE, August 2006.
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Power Engineering Program Trends
• New (untenured) faculty declined from 21% in
early 90s to 14% of total faculty.
• Senior faculty rose from 50% to 63%.
• Approximately 3 faculty members are hired for
every 4 that leave.
• Reported total research funding per institution
declined about 18%.
• Industry-funded research rose compared to
2001-02, but did not off-set declines in
government-funded research.
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Source: IEEE Power Engineering Education Committee Survey
Results for Various Academic Years.
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University Power Systems Programs
• Of 48 programs reporting in both 1987/8 and
2005/6, 50% declined and 15% grew in number
of major faculty members.
Power Engineering Faculty
Number of Faculty
Power Faculty at Ohio State
14
Carnegie Mellon University:
1975: 8 faculty; 2007: 1
12
10
Cornell University:
1975: 7 faculty; 2007: 1
8
6
University of Michigan:
1971: 5 faculty; 2007: 0
4
2
0
1960
UC Berkeley:
1971: 4 faculty; 2007: 1
1970
1980
1990
2000
Academic Year
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Univ. of Missouri-Columbia:
1975: 8 faculty; 2007: 0
Source: IEEE Power Engineering Education Committee Survey
Results for Various Academic Years.
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Without a sizable research portfolio, it is
not possible for a disciplinary area such
as electric power to get new faculty
positions or resources.
Professor Vijay Vittal, Director, Power Systems
Engineering Research Center in filed
comments to FERC in RM06-16, July 2006.
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University administrations need to know
there is a long term commitment to
university research in the area. The
students need to know there are high
paying, interesting jobs.
Professor Robert J. Thomas, Cornell
University, in “Meeting the Twin Challenges of
Education and an Aging Workforce in the
Electric Power Industry.” The CIP Report. Nov.
2006
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Funding Research
• What barriers need to be overcome to
increase support from industry and
government?
• Can funding from such initiatives as the
America Competes Act be leveraged?
• Could industry advocate for increased
university research support from
Congress, DOE, NSF, etc.?
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Analysis
• Need to increase understanding of aging
workforce challenges, and to facilitate
discussions to find effective, collaborative
responses to those challenges
• Responses need to address how to increase
the number well-trained students, and how to
build and sustain the infrastructure necessary
to educate them
• Questions posed earlier, among others,
should be addressed.
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NSF Workshop on Sustaining
Power Engineering Programs
• Objectives of this invited attendance workshop
for industry, government and academia:
• To assess the gap between the need for new
engineers and the ability of universities to meet that
need
• To understand what it takes to sustain university
programs and explore options for doing so
• To facilitate an executive summit on the second day
to discuss education infrastructure needs and options
• To develop an action plan for addressing key issues
• Nov. 29-30, 2007 in Arlington, VA
• Collaborative effort of IEEE PES and PSERC
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Conclusions
• Decisions on investments in people should
receive as high a priority in maintaining
reliability as decisions on investments in
the aging physical infrastructure.
• Collaboration among industry, government,
and universities is needed to respond to
the aging workforce challenges.
• Research support for universities is
fundamental to educating the next
generation of power engineers.
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