Workforce Development

A Snapshot Of Institutions Powering The Future Of Batteries Workforce Development

A Snapshot Of Institutions Powering The Future Of Batteries

Institution

Description

DOD allocation of $30 million over 3 years.

Funding supports the development and commercialization of innovative battery technologies and manufacturing processes.

A group of researchers are working together through the Nevada Institute for Sustainability, a virtual organization at the University.

Focused on batteries research, and education and workforce training.

UTD will work with community colleges in North Texas to provide training for skilled workers. According to the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory 2020 report, the battery energy storage sector is projected to require a minimum of 130,000 additional workers in the U.S. by 2030, with at least 12,000 of those workers needed in Texas. They created a Batteries and Energy Storage Technologies Minor, the first of its type in the US. Centerpiece of the minor is a hands-on laboratory in which students make and test their own lithium-ion batteries, starting with raw chemicals.

Plans underway to build a battery cell R&D center slated to open in April 2025.

What It Means For Workforce Development

The lab will accelerate domestic development of

The new facility will be used to train the next-generation workforce in advanced manufacturing technologies.

battery cell materials and manufacturing.

TCAT experiments with a free technical school to meet industry’s demand for trained workers.

The campus in Smyrna opened in 2017, in partnership with Nissan Motor Co., which makes its electric cars nearby.

Talent | P. 256 Source: UT Dallas; University of Nevada, Reno; Ohio State;; Tennessee College of Applied Technology

Students “split their time between lectures and the shop – learning the theory and practice of welding pipes, troubleshooting hydraulic power systems, or programming robots to move battery parts.”

Extracted from the PDF; charts and images may read imperfectly.