Energy Education Showcase: How MIT is Preparing Students for New Challenges

In 2009, MIT launched an unusual academic venture, an interdisciplinary minor devoted to energy studies. A panel of MIT professors discuss their aspirations and work to date shepherding this new program into existence. Vladimir Bulovic gives full credit to students for jumpstarting the energy minor. They wanted school-based opportunities to tackle urgent, real-world problems involving energy and the environment, says Bulovic, and pressed for “a coherent blueprint for education in energy.” A faculty taskforce helped develop the ambitious brief of the program, an integrated set of courses within and connecting science, technology, and the social sciences, all fortified with a steady dose of hands-on research and field experience. The classroom is but one way to propagate knowledge of energy, says Bulovic. “What we tell them is just part of a bigger picture and it’s up to them to discover the next steps.” Other faculty describe both accomplishments and challenges in shaping new courses with an energy focus. Robert Jaffe, who teaches a class in the physics of energy, believes MIT is not merely training scientists and engineers but “policymakers and industry leaders who will make important decisions about our energy future, and a basic understanding of physics principles, what’s possible and what’s not, can make a world of difference.” He and colleague Washington Taylor learn as they teach, becoming “newly formed experts” in such areas as air conditioning and car engines. He’s had “some wonderful ‘aha’ moments,” such as learning that wind turbines work “like sailboats sailing into the wind,” not because wind pushes their blades. Donald Lessard team teaches a course in energy decisions, markets and policies, an enormously complex stew combining energy issues and politics, economics and social organization. “Our energy system is a series of beliefs, political structures, markets, regulatory contexts, set of prices, set of views, activities by firms and households, a p...

Channel: MIT World Video Length: 0s Date Found: Thu, Apr 07 2011 10:35 PM Category: Science Date Produced: Mon, Mar 28 2011 12:00 AM View Count: 3