TRAINING A DIVERSE GEOTHERMAL WORKFORCE: A DATA-DRIVEN EFFORT

The expansion of a workforce qualified to address the ever-increasing number of geological and environmental problems demands fresh approaches to training undergraduate students. Preparation for future careers requires not only a solid foundation in traditional subjects and methodologies, but significant practical experience using the analytical and digital skills required by today's work place. In particular, for the next generation of teachers, environmental consultants, industry scientists, and researchers to be competitive in the job market, they must be able to demonstrate the ability to acquire, manipulate and disseminate data, as well as the ability to place these data within the proper scientific context. Efforts at the City College of New York in partnership with Boise State University to prepare students for the workforce are currently underway and include class, field and lab instruction relevant to a geothermal energy research theme. We will report our experiences in two courses, Databases and Modeling and Geothermal Energy Resources, with a focus on students’ use of common software tools, and the evaluation, interpretation, and analysis of data. We will also discuss students’ development of a working vocabulary in describing results and their ability to identify and evaluate metadata. Lastly, we will examine the role of peer-learning a key component in helping students succeed.