State-of-the-art laboratories for training the modern power workforce

This paper describes the development of laboratory-based power engineering program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). Electrical Engineering Department of UTC, which is strategically located in the middle of the several power utilities, such as Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Electric Power Board (EPB), and Tennessee Valley Public Power Association (TVPPA), realizes the urgent need to maintain and improve power engineering program through establishing state-of-art power-related laboratories. As integral part of power engineering curriculum at UTC, the laboratories are as a result of partnership effort between power industries, other UTC's partners, and the University, along with the support by U.S. Department of energy (DOE). The laboratories are intended to be educational and research facilities for undergraduate and graduate students as well as training facilities for industry engineers, who are the future and current power workforce.