The Advanced Manufacturing Office announced up to $10 million is available to establish 5-year graduate-level university-led DOE Traineeship(s) in Power Engineering (leveraging emerging Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Power Electronics capabilities). The traineeship(s) will be implemented beginning in the Fall 2016 school year and are concentrated on advanced power electronic equipment engineering, design and manufacturing. The first part of the planned program announced today, which will create the traineeship, administration capability and provide support for curriculum development and trainees, will include up to $4 million in funding.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is focused on advanced Power Electronics (leveraging Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Power Electronics) and will competitively select one or more institutions of higher education to implement masters and doctoral training programs designed to fill the identified workforce shortages at industry, national labs, and universities in power electronic equipment design and engineering. Selected institutions will utilize a competitive application process to award traineeship funding (stipend and tuition support) to individual graduate students of high merit who are entering the first two years of a graduate program. With the emerging opportunities to apply wide bandgap semiconductors in power electronics, selected institutions will also identify and develop Power Engineering curriculum which most effectively prepares students to develop and apply these new technologies. This FOA is open to U.S. based academic institutions of higher education (colleges and universities) with accredited programs granting Masters and Ph.D. degrees in relevant fields.

Power engineers are needed to enable the design, manufacturing, and deployment of advanced new high-efficiency electrical equipment such as motors, inverters, and high power electronics, as well as high-efficiency electrical systems. Power engineers are needed in all advanced manufacturing industries and energy intensive industries including the automotive, aerospace, chemical and clean energy industries. This traineeship will help ensure that we have the educated and trained workforce we need to compete in the global clean energy economy.

View the full Funding Opportunity for complete details and instructions to apply.