The University of Wisconsin-MilwaukeeThe university’s College of Engineering and Applied Science was selected to lead a regional initiative to reduce energy use in manufacturing. The U.S. Department of Energy awarded the college a $5.7 million grant to create more Industrial Training Assessment Centers. These centers train workers in energy assessment, “enabling the manufacturing sector to increase its use of technologies to reduce energy use,” the university’s press release said. The Department of Energy selected UWM as the lead facility of its Clean Energy and Manufacturing Workforce Consortia. The goal is to reduce industrial carbon emissions while improving manufacturers’ competitiveness, the press release said. The Industrial Training Assessment Centers further qualify individuals by teaching them “how to use technologies such as heat pumps, hydrogen for power generation, biofuels, power flow analysis, various renewable energy technologies and cyber-physical modeling,” the press release said. UWM engineering professor Ryo Amano will lead the university’s efforts in partnership with nine community colleges in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, the release said. This brings the total number of Industrial Training Assessment Centers in the U.S. to 40, the release said. Amano said UWM has been home to “the only Industrial Assessment Center in Wisconsin for nearly 30 years,” the release said. “The total consortium funding is $14 million, so UWM’s share is large – more than a third,” Amano said in the release. “This is not surprising, however, as UWM is known for its expertise in training the next generation of energy engineers. The growing number of ITACs is made possible by the DOE’s network of university-based Industrial Assessment Centers.” Amano, who is also a Richard & Joanne Grigg Fellow at UWM, received a $900,000 grant from the Department of Energy last year to establish a building training and assessment center designed “to provide specific career training in energy-efficient retrofits to existing buildings and institutional facilities,” the press release said.
