Comments (0) | |

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009

FVSU institute receives federal energy grant

The Cooperative Developmental Energy Program at Fort Valley State University, which prepares students for careers in energy fields, recently received a $564,000 grant from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The funds, which will be disbursed over a five-year period, will be used for student scholarships and the Mathematical Engineering and Science Academy. The program is aimed at garnering interest in energy-related fields among high school students, according to the program’s founder and director, Dr. Isaac Crumbly.

In addition to scholarships, the money will be used to offset expenses associated with internships, Crumbly said in a news release.

Students in CDEP, founded in 1983, spend three years at Fort Valley, majoring in either mathematics, biology or chemistry. Afterward, students can choose to continue their studies in engineering, geosciences and petroleum engineering or health physics at one of the following partner schools depending on the field of interest: Georgia Tech, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, the University of Oklahoma, Penn State University, the University of Texas and the University of Texas-Pan American.

Once the course of study is completed, graduates will have earned two bachelor’s degrees — one from FVSU, and one from the partner school.

The program collaborates with federal organizations and energy companies for scholarship funding, as well as providing internships for students in the program.

There are 70 students in the program at the college level, and 100 participants in MESA this year, Crumbly said.

Crumbly started the program with the objective to get more minority students interested in energy-related fields.

Few companies recruited from historically black colleges and universities in the early 1980s, Crumbly said. In order to attract those companies, he pushed students to pursue internship experience.

“The success of those students was critical,” Crumbly said. “The quality of the students during that phase was absolutely excellent.”

Recruiters are invited to campus every year in order to meet with students, Crumbly said.

Crumbly, who has an educational background in horticulture and botany, was first introduced to the energy industry in the 1970s. While teaching at Fort Valley State, he received a research appointment through the Tennessee Valley Authority to find ways to apply waste heat toward greenhouses. He later continued his work with another grant with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Later, Crumbly became a fellow for the Southern Education Foundation, where he conducted a study on energy costs across various income levels in Fort Valley. According to the research, energy costs made up around 25 to 30 percent of expenses for low-income individuals.

A number of the students currently enrolled in CDEP first discovered the program as high schoolers in MESA.

Every summer, participants are recruited based on minimum GPA and coursework qualifications. With MESA, students visit energy companies and governmental agencies to learn about different aspects of the field. For example, ninth graders visit the U.S. Geological Service in Washington, D.C., the National Energy Technology Laboratory and Penn State University. In the 12th grade, students visit companies such as Exxon-Mobil, Shell and Chevron in Houston, Texas.

While CDEP is a rigorous program, Crumbly said its graduates are well-prepared to become leaders in their fields.

“Because the internships are geared toward the energy industry and federal industries with an energy component, the students are successful,” Crumbly said.

To contact Andrea Castillo, call 256-9751.