Utility-University Coordination in an Electric Power Engineering Program

This paper describes an electric power engineering program at Purdue University. The program is sponsored by several electric utility companies and is a coordination of several different activities which are broadly centered on electric power engineering education with mechanical and nuclear engineering education plus various research activities. The activities of the power center program take place both at the university and the sponsoring electric utility companies. The power center concept has provided a sound base for a wide variety of power engineering activities at Purdue including laboratory development, sponsored research, course development, and student and faculty support. The motivation, objectives and principal activities of the Purdue Electric Power Center are described in the paper. Also, some problems relating to the operation of the power center and the solution to those problems are described.