Workforce Development
ASPIRE takes a comprehensive, research-based, inclusive approach to workforce development with the aim to support our envisioned cross industry transformations, national scale electric and transportation infrastructure projects, and significant domestic job growth. Our goal is to prepare the workforce and communities of the future to understand, operate within, and design for sustainable electric infrastructure; integrating technical, professional, and social analytic capacities. We see opportunities for engagement, training, and retooling across the industries, from trades and community colleges, to undergraduate and graduate education, to ongoing professional development.
Our approach is informed by formal engineering education research, and our strategy to achieving our goals entail (1) building durable infrastructure pathways of inclusive structural and cultural support for diverse learners’ success; (2) developing engineering curriculum that addresses key competencies in systems-of-systems thinking, integrating technical knowledge, professional skills, and social context for sustainability, mobility, and equitably accessible infrastructure; and (3) deploying research-proven participatory learning strategies, from primary through undergraduate and graduate education, to the technical and professional workforce, and in informal settings for all ages. The ASPIRE programs will result in broad public dissemination of technology advances, methods, and tools, and a vast library of vetted precollege, undergraduate, graduate, professional, and community educational content.
Pre-college and Pathways Partners
- DSST Public Schools, Denver, CO
- Granite School District, Salt Lake City, UT
- I Have a Dream Foundation
- Insights El Paso Science Center
- Logan City School District