Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Workforce Development”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 469 records · Page 26

Today's Training in the High Technology Arena

To keep in tune with the rapidly changing 'Hardware' technology, it is imperative that all of the supporting components of a program's efforts reflect these increases in technology. To maintain a work force that keeps in tune with the ever increasing technology base, training needs to remain a major consideration in all types of organizations. This paper focuses on the area of training and education and suggests a reasonable, cost effective alternative to carrying the entire burden of developing, training and maintaining a workforce in a rapidly changing, highly technological environment.

Baylis, William T.↗

Investing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funds to Advance Capability, Reliability, and Performance in NASA Wind Tunnels

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Aeronautics Test Program (ATP) is implementing five significant ground-based test facility projects across the nation with funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The projects were selected as the best candidates within the constraints of the ARRA and the strategic plan of ATP. They are a combination of much-needed large scale maintenance, reliability, and system upgrades plus creating new test beds for upcoming research programs. The projects are: 1.) Re-activation of a large compressor to provide a second source for compressed air and vacuum to the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel at the Ames Research Center (ARC) 2.) Addition of high-altitude ice crystal generation at the Glenn Research Center Propulsion Systems Laboratory Test Cell 3, 3.) New refrigeration system and tunnel heat exchanger for the Icing Research Tunnel at the Glenn Research Center, 4.) Technical viability improvements for the National Transonic Facility at the Langley Research Center, and 5.) Modifications to conduct Environmentally Responsible Aviation and Rotorcraft research at the 14 x 22 Subsonic Tunnel at Langley Research Center. The selection rationale, problem statement, and technical solution summary for each project is given here. The benefits and challenges of the ARRA funded projects are discussed. Indirectly, this opportunity provides the advantages of developing experience in NASA's workforce in large projects and maintaining corporate knowledge in that very unique capability. It is envisioned that improved facilities will attract a larger user base and capabilities that are needed for current and future research efforts will offer revenue growth and future operations stability. Several of the chosen projects will maximize wind tunnel reliability and maintainability by using newer, proven technologies in place of older and obsolete equipment and processes. The projects will meet NASA's goal of integrating more efficient, environmentally safer, and less energy consuming hardware and processes into existing tunnel systems. These include Environmental Protection Agency-approved refrigerants, energy efficient motors, and faster, flexible tunnel data systems.

Sydnor, Goerge H.↗

Developing Inclusive, Supportive, and Safe Environments in Planetary Science for Members of the LGBTQ+ Community

To continue to develop a innovative and successful workforce for planetary scientists, it is critical to foster an interdisciplinary, diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible environment across the field, especially for members of the LGBTQ+ community. Note: Members of the community utilize various acronyms to describe a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, but for the purposes of this paper, we will use the acronym LGBTQ+ to include any and all members of this marginalized group. LGBTQ+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and the “+” signifies the importance that one acronym cannot possibly capture everyone's experience of their gender identity, expression, and/or sexual orientation.

K. E. Vander Kaaden↗

Blades of Glory: An Energy.gov Mini-Doc – The 2016 Collegiate Wind Competition

In this short documentary, we follow three collegiate teams who are participating in this year’s U.S. Department of Energy Collegiate Wind Competition in New Orleans. Learn about their experiences and why the competition is important for America’s clean energy future. The competition provides undergraduates with real-world skills they need to enter tomorrow’s clean energy workforce by challenging them to develop and deliver a business plan, establish a deployment strategy, and build and test a wind turbine.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Mobility Data and Models Informing Smart Cities

This presentation explores the interactions of Emerging Technology, Changing Urban Environments, and Urban Travel Behavior on Mobility and Energy Impacts. Key findings include quantifying impacts of emerging mobility, access and infrastructure associated with new mobility choices and services in urban areas. The results demonstrate new data collection methods and capabilities to understand and identify key levers to improve energy productivity of future mobility systems and of quickly evolving MaaS and COVID-19 contexts to monitor rapidly shifting urban mobility patterns. Under development are mode choice models for new modes versus traditional modes. Initial estimates are developed on the potential of workforce mobility strategies in shaping future energy-efficient mobility system impacts. For mode replacement and workforce mobility, this presentation offers observability into the changes in number of transactions per mode, after ride-hailing/TNC/MaaS introduction and in origins of workforce to enable user need-driven reimagining of efficient mobility systems: Seattle (SEA-TAC) airport: for every 100 new TNC transactions for ground transportation, ~27% replaced transit, 35% replaced parking, 17% replaced car rentals, and 21% replaced taxis. Similarly, at Denver International (DEN), ride-hailing transactions replaced transit, parking, car rental and taxis at a rate of 34.7%, 39.0%, 16.6%, and 9.7%, respectively. A workforce mobility tool, analysis/visualization techniques, and capabilities to understand and identify key job commute needs, new choices in access to job opportunities, and affordability aspects as levers to improve energy productivity of future integrated urban mobility systems.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,ENERGY PLANNING, POLIC↗

The Importance of Chemical Research to the U.S. Economy

Chemistry plays a pivotal role in the strength of the U.S. economy and the advancement of humankind. Chemists' achievements include life-saving pharmaceuticals, advanced energy solutions, improved agricultural productivity, and novel materials used in products from clothing to electronic devices. The many sectors reliant on the U.S. chemical economy account for about 25% of the U.S. GDP and support 4.1 million U.S. jobs. However, a new and evolving chemistry landscape requires changes with regard to funding, training, and a focus on integrating sustainability into manufacturing, product usage, and product disposal. This report identifies strategies and options for research investments that will support U.S. leadership while considering environmental sustainability and developing a diverse chemical economy workforce with equitable opportunities for all chemistry talent. The report recommends that funding agencies and philanthropic organizations who support the chemical sciences fund as large a breadth of fundamental research projects as possible. Chemical industry and their partners at universities, scientific research institutions, and national laboratories should align the objectives of fundamental research to directly assist with new practices toward environmental stewardship, sustainability, and clean energy. Additionally, the report recommends that funding agencies make substantial investment toward education research to enable innovative ways of teaching about emerging concepts, tools and technologies.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Blueprint Guide for Creating Gender-Sensitive Energy Policies

A policy that considers gender roles, differences and preferences driven by socio-cultural norms, can help to maximize the impact of energy projects, programs, and initiatives. Gender responsive regional and national energy policies and strategies can be a lever for addressing gender inequalities across the energy value chain, with collateral impacts on environmental sustainability, social inclusivity, and economic growth. Moreover, the equal participation of women and men is imperative for achieving universal energy access and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Policy and regulatory instruments can be a way to help close gender gaps in the energy sector; create awareness and understanding of the role of women in the workforce; send a strong signal to developers and investors, creating the tone and space for bottom up change; and encourage information exchange, education and communication about gender informed approaches. This guide presents the critical components for developing a policy on gender mainstreaming for energy access, including different considerations around design, development, implementation procedures, critical success factors, challenges, and integrated strategies.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

USAID Colombia Young Leaders Workforce Training Program Action Plans: Forecasting Distributed Photovoltaic Adoption in Barranquilla, Colombia

As part of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Young Leaders Workforce Training Program in Colombia, the Association of Renewable Energies Colombia (SER) participants leveraged their training and professional experience to develop an action plan for modeling the projected adoption of distributed solar photovoltaics (PV) out to 2050 for the city of Barranquilla, Colombia. This case study provides an overview of the key activities and outcomes of the Distributed Generation Market Demand Model (dGen™) Colombia project.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

USAID Colombia Young Leaders Workforce Training Program Action Plans: Planning for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure in Bogotá

As part of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Young Leaders Workforce Training Program in Colombia, the Grupo Energía Bogotá (GEB) participants leveraged their training and professional experience to develop an action plan for modeling and evaluating Bogotá's projected electric vehicle (EV) charging needs to meet future demand. This case study summarizes the collaboration between USAID-NREL, GEB, and the Bogotá Department of Transportation Mobility Secretariat (SDM) to estimate EV charging station needs to meet projected future EV sales in the city of Bogotá and determine high-priority locations within the greater Bogotá metropolitan area for planning and applying EVSE investment and installation.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

An Overview of NASA's Contributions to Energy Technology

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is well known for its many contributions to advancing technology for the aviation and space industries. It may be surprising to some that it has also made a major impact in advancing energy technologies. This paper presents a historic overview of some of the energy programs that NASA was involved in, as well as presenting some current energy-related work that is relevant to both aerospace and non-aerospace needs. In the past, NASA developed prototype electric cars, low-emission gas turbines, wind turbines, and solar-powered villages, to name a few of the major energy projects. The fundamental expertise in fluid mechanics, heat transfer, thermodynamics, mechanical and electrical engineering, and other related fields, found in NASA s workforce, can easily be applied to develop creative solutions to energy problems in space, aviation, or terrestrial systems.

Lyons, Valerie J.↗

USAID Colombia Young Leaders Workforce Training Program Action Plans: Early Adopters Work to Accelerate Electric Vehicle Transitions in Boyacá, Colombia

As part of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Young Leaders Workforce Training Program in Colombia, Empresa de Energía de Boyacá (EBSA) participants leveraged their training and professional experience to develop an electric mobility and transition action plan for their organization. This case study provides and overview of the technical assistance that USAID-NREL provided to EBSA to inform their fleet transition decision making process.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

U.S. Department of Energy Solar District Cup Collegiate Design Competition

The Solar District Cup is a multidisciplinary collegiate competition that challenges student teams to design and model standalone solar and solar-plus-storage systems for multiple buildings on a local electrical distribution network, such as a college campus, across a development, or in a district. Students learn cross-cutting skills that prepare them to become part of the next generation of the distributed energy workforce. Student teams act as renewable energy developers proposing to solar and solar-plus-storage system requests. Students, faculty, and prospective employers can benefit from knowing about this program and what students learn--either immediately as participants, mentors, or judges, or as potential employers of Solar District Cup alumni. RE+ is also one of our competition partners.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Perspectives on Emerging/Novel Computing Paradigms and Future Aerospace Workforce Environments

The accelerating pace of the computing technology development shows no signs of abating. Computing power reaching 100 Tflop/s is likely to be reached by 2004 and Pflop/s (10(exp 15) Flop/s) by 2007. The fundamental physical limits of computation, including information storage limits, communication limits and computation rate limits will likely be reached by the middle of the present millennium. To overcome these limits, novel technologies and new computing paradigms will be developed. An attempt is made in this overview to put the diverse activities related to new computing-paradigms in perspective and to set the stage for the succeeding presentations. The presentation is divided into five parts. In the first part, a brief historical account is given of development of computer and networking technologies. The second part provides brief overviews of the three emerging computing paradigms grid, ubiquitous and autonomic computing. The third part lists future computing alternatives and the characteristics of future computing environment. The fourth part describes future aerospace workforce research, learning and design environments. The fifth part lists the objectives of the workshop and some of the sources of information on future computing paradigms.

Noor, Ahmed K.↗

A perfect amalgam - the combination of company in-house training with an academic online certificate program

A well-trained and qualified workforce is an essential element in the modern day work place of the nuclear industry. For generations, from the guilds of the Middle Age through to the early Industrial Age, people learned their crafts through hands-on training provided at the hands of masters. Today, though there is an ever-pressing need for mentoring in the workplace, the fast-paced environment and lack of time to develop specific in-house training programs can create hindrances to both formal and informal learning in the work place. One way to overcome this gap is through private company and academic collaboration. In 2012, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) developed a Nuclear Regulatory Commission sponsored Nuclear Criticality Safety Certificate Program. In collaboration with URENCO USA, an online version of the program was also developed to assist the URENCO criticality workforce in the nuclear criticality safety (NCS) qualification process to further their education. This paper looks into the differences between formal and informal learning and how factors, which shape informal learning, are used to compliment formal learning in the work environment. It further discusses how a collaborative relationship between private and academic partners can assist a company in maintaining a high level of expertise, while assisting with a company's goals of fostering, sustaining and strengthening the nuclear safety culture. (authors)

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗

Policy Reforms to Unleash Domestic Critical Minerals Mining and Processing

The United States faces growing strategic and economic risks due to its limited ability to mine, process, and refine the minerals required for national defense, energy systems, advanced manufacturing, and emerging technologies. Although the country possesses significant geological resources, development has been slowed by long and unpredictable permitting timelines, fragmented regulatory responsibilities, limited midstream processing capacity, and a shrinking technical workforce. These structural barriers have created supply chain vulnerabilities that constrain industrial growth and reduce national resilience. This report presents a comprehensive set of reforms intended to modernize the nation’s approach to critical minerals. The recommendations address federal permitting, environmental review processes, the legal framework governing mining activities, interagency coordination, domestic processing and refining capacity, and the education and workforce systems needed to support long term industry development. The analysis emphasizes practical steps to shorten project timelines, improve regulatory clarity, expand processing infrastructure, enable recovery from both conventional and nontraditional sources, and update outdated requirements that hinder the development of essential materials. Taken together, the recommended reforms would strengthen domestic supply chains, improve investment certainty, and reduce dependence on external minerals and processing infrastructure. By aligning policy, regulatory frameworks, and workforce capabilities with national needs, the United States can build a more resilient and secure critical minerals ecosystem that supports long term economic competitiveness and technological leadership.

29 - ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY AND ECONOMY↗

Training and Certification Programs on Industrial Energy Systems in the United States

The major industrial energy systems commonly found in manufacturing facilities are compressed air, ammonia refrigeration, chilled water, steam, process heating, combined heat and power, pumps, and fans. The efficiency of these systems contributes significantly to the whole-facility energy performance. On the national and even the international level, well-structured training and highly recognized certification programs help develop a highly skilled and qualified workforce to maintain and improve facilities' energy performance, particularly as technologies within these systems become more and more advanced. The purpose of this paper is to review currently available vendor-agnostic training and certification programs focusing on these systems and to identify the gap between market needs and currently available programs. Its three major conclusions are (1) most training programs focus on operations, maintenance, safety, and design although some briefly touch on energy performance aspects. (2) The Certified Refrigeration Energy Specialist certification by RETA the and Pump System Assessment Professional certification by HI were the only certifications found to be tool-agnostics and emphasize knowledge and skills for improving and maintaining systems energy performance. (3) Developing energy efficiency focused training and ANSI accredited certification programs for industrial energy systems will fill the gap between market needs and currently available programs.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗

National technical nuclear forensics: U.S. approach to capability sustainment

In the event of a nuclear detonation in the United States (U.S.), the interdiction of a nuclear device, or the seizure of nuclear materials, there will be tremendous pressure to attribute the source of the material, establish responsibility, and ensure the prevention of another incident. Along with intelligence and law enforcement investigations, nuclear forensics is one of the three pillars supporting attribution. The field of nuclear forensics includes the collection, analysis, and evaluation of radiological or nuclear materials, devices, and debris after an event or interdiction. The nuclear forensics scientific workforce is situated primarily in national and defense laboratories, but in recent decades has experienced a decline in numbers. The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office has implemented an expertise development program in order to off-set these declines and sustain a workforce of educated and trained scientists skilled in areas needed for nuclear forensics. Since its inception in 2008, the National Nuclear Forensics Expertise Development Program (NNFEDP) addresses this challenge holistically, through support to undergraduate and graduate students, university faculty and programs, as well as post-doctoral researchers at national laboratories in fields which are directly relevant to nuclear forensics. In that time, the program has placed 44 Ph.D.'s directly into national laboratories and U.S. federal agencies, maintaining the technical expertise required to execute the Nation's nuclear forensics mission. In 2017, the NNFEDP will institute the new Nuclear Forensics Research Award that will foster collaborations between university students and faculty with national laboratory researchers to further support and reinforce the advancement of nuclear forensic science through joint efforts. This opportunity will increase participation in this exciting and critically important national security mission space and contribute to the sustained development of the nuclear forensics workforce. (authors)

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗

Environmental Management Waste Management Facility Operations Team Commitment to Safety - 18546

The Environmental Management Waste Management Facility (EMWMF) is an above-grade waste disposal facility that is owned by DOE and operated by URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR), a contractor to DOE's Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. The EMWMF landfill is located on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) and has a 2.18 M cubic yard capacity. EMWMF is a key component of the cost-effective ORR cleanup program and accepts remediation waste from across the ORR. Multiple low-level and low-level mixed CERCLA waste streams are disposed at EMWMF, mostly as direct-dumped demolition and remediation debris. EMWMF receives and disposes of a myriad of contaminated waste streams and waste types, including massive structural steel from some of the largest buildings ever constructed, contaminated soils from legacy disposal areas, containers that must be grouted under negative pressure, and special waste that must be tightly controlled. Support activities include managing several million gallons of landfill wastewater per year and driving around 20,000 miles per year to transport leachate to a treatment facility. Even with the wide range of waste accepted and the diversity of support activities, EMWMF Operations has maintained an impressive safety record of no lost workday cases in nearly 16 years of continuous operation and was recently awarded the National Safety Council's Superior Safety Performance Award. This safety record is a testament to the commitment to safety by both workers and management. Several factors are key to the EMWMF Operations safety record. UCOR senior management established safety as a priority and allocates proper funding and resources. EMWMF Operations management embraces safety as an integral part of the work and also 'walks the talk'-emphasizing safety over productivity and showing personal commitment to safety. A stable workforce promotes a culture where safety is valued and helps train new personnel in this culture. The UCOR integrated safety management approach to work control is fully embraced, where worker feedback is highly valued and used to better identify and control job hazards. Finally, job supervisors actively encourage input. Worker concerns, suggestions, and observations are encouraged and positively addressed. As a result, the entire Operations Team is committed to identifying and mitigating hazards. This team commitment to safety results in a culture where safety is not only valued, but is expected. Safety concerns are identified and addressed proactively, and communication is encouraged. This strong safety culture and outstanding safety record have also proven to be good business, with the facility available to receive waste 99.6% of available work hours and outstanding turnaround times on waste shipments. The EMWMF Operations team commitment to safety can be used in other environments to develop an engaged, safety-conscious workforce. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗