About the Institute
How to Register
About the Directors

INNOVATIVE EDUCATOR SCHOLARSHIP

GENERAL INFORMATION
The United States of America in its entirety covers less than 3% of the surface area of the earth, constitutes 5% of the world’s population, and utilizes approximately 25% of the world’s energy consumption. Although the U.S. is one of the world’s superpowers, this imbalance of energy consumption forces us to be dependent on other nations, creates a scarcity for energy resources in the global market, and weakens the ecosystem. Some of these adverse impacts are easily avoidable.

The general population needs to be aware of energy conservation, new energy resources, and smart energy practices. This is a global issue that requires local action. Within the next few years, a third of the workforce in the energy industry is expected to retire. Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicate that by 2012 there will be nearly 10,000 more industry jobs than workers available to fill them. Many of these new jobs will impact or be impacted by the energy crisis.

In 2005, the Workforce Development Board of Oswego County developed its strategic workforce improvement plan for the area, with the energy industry cluster noted as highly important to the local economy. Focus groups of business leaders identified lack of understanding and misconceptions surrounding career opportunities in the industry as a concern. They also cited a general shortage of math and science skills as a human resource challenge. In addition, they recommended that all high-school graduates be provided basic “energy literacy” training. This training would allow them to become better consumers and citizens in a global economy driven by energy.

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ABOUT THE INSTITUTE
The SUNY Oswego Energy Institute is a two-week program designed for current and future middle and high-school physical science and technology education teachers that addresses energy topics relevant to current local and global needs in order to enable these individuals to pass on this knowledge to their own students.

Using lectures, demonstrations, hands-on activities, field trips, guest speakers, and real-world applications, a team of instructors will cover topics such as the nature of energy, energy conservation, alternative energy sources, radiation safety, future energy resources, and energy’s connection to politics and social cultures.

A number of topics dealing directly with the needs of New York State will also be discussed. In view of the nuclear power plants that currently operate in Oswego County, nuclear safety issues and radiation effects will also be shared with the participants.

The institute will run mornings and afternoons for the two weeks of its duration. Topics to be covered during the program are:

• Essentials of Energy
• Energy Resources
• Mechanical Energy and Forces: Battery Powered Vehicles
• Thermal Energy Basics
• Heat Transfer and Control
• Conservation of Thermal Energy
• Radiant Solar Energy Fundamentals: Insolometer and Iclinometer
• Passive and Active Solar Heating Principles
• Cooking with Solar
• Work, Power, and Efficiency
• Non-Renewable Energies
• Renewable Energies
• Wind Energy: Simple Wind Turbines
• Biomass Energy
• Nuclear Energy
• Other Energy Alternatives

Factored into the Energy Institute are a variety of field trips. The purpose of the trips is to experience a variety of working facilities related to energy. In addition, several guest speakers will be invited from nearby regions to share their expertise on energy-related topics.

The culmination of this institute will result in each participant constructing an energy curriculum portfolio. This will contain handouts, lesson plans, and learning activities that can immediately be used for instruction in their classroom.

Successful completion of the program will earn three semester hours of undergraduate or graduate credit from SUNY Oswego.

Due to the nature of the program, the number of participants will be limited.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to become part of this exciting educational experience and to be part of shaping the future of our workforce!

REGISTRATION

Our program offerings are as follows:

To register, please download the Registration Form for the Energy Institute (PDF), complete, and send to:

THE ENERGY INSTITUTE
DIVISION OF EXTENDED LEARNING
166 CAMPUS CENTER
SUNY OSWEGO
OSWEGO, NY 13126

INNOVATIVE EDUCATOR SCHOLARSHIPS

Scholarship funds have recently become available from the NYS Department of Labor that enable SUNY Oswego to offer Innovative Educator Scholarships to participants of the Energy Institute.  Twenty $500 scholarships will be offered.  If granted, scholarships will be automatically applied toward the participant's program fee.  Scholarship requests must be submitted by May 15 to the Division of Extended Learning at SUNY Oswego.

Click here for the scholarship request guidelines.

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ABOUT THE PROGRAM DIRECTORS

Dr. Alok Kumar, Physics Department
State University of New York at Oswego

Alok Kumar, Director, currently serves as Chair and Professor of Physics at SUNY Oswego. He is a recipient of numerous awards: the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching from the State University of New York, a NOVA/NASA Fellow from NASA, an Award of Excellence and the President's Award for Creative and Scholarly Activity or Research from SUNY Oswego, a Meritorious Performance and Professional Promise Award for Excellence in Teaching and Research from California State University at Long Beach, and a fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Federal Republic of Germany). In addition, he has conducted research in widely varied environments in several different countries, including India, Germany, Japan, and the United States. He has also served as Director of a NOVA/NASA project to design a course on Energy Technology.

Mr. Thomas Kubicki, Technology Department
State University of New York at Oswego

Thomas Kubicki, Co-Director, currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Technology at SUNY Oswego. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Technology Education plus the undergraduate energy curriculum in the department. In addition, he has presented workshops for teachers in Energy sponsored by NYSERDA/NEED at the college. In 2006, he was awarded the New York State Technology Education Association College Teaching Excellence Award and the Technology Alliance of Central New York 2006 College Educator Award. In addition, Mr. Kubicki has taught technology in middle school and high school for twenty-three years, earning the Mohawk Valley Technology Teacher of the Year Award in 1996. He also has served as a school administrator in the areas of curriculum and instruction supervision and has worked on curriculum writing projects for the New York State Education Department.

For more information regarding the academic content of this program, please contact:

Alok Kumar
phone: 315.312.2695
email: kumar@oswego.edu

Thomas Kubicki
phone: 315.312.2841
email: kubicki@oswego.edu

DISABILITY STATEMENT

If you have a disabling condition that may interfere with your ability to successfully complete this program, please contact the Office of Disability Services, 183 Campus Center, 315.312.3358.