UNC Charlotte Establishes First-Of-Its-Kind School As Energy Infrastructure Boom Intensifies
Robert Cox, executive director of EPIC, is pictured at UNC Charlotte’s Energy Production and Infrastructure Center.
Melissa Key/CBJ
By Jennifer Thomas – Senior Staff Writer, Charlotte Business Journal
UNC Charlotte is leaning into its push to become a national leader in the energy industry. The Charlotte university has established a School of Energy — the first of its kind — to tackle issues tied to energy grid modernization, energy research and workforce development.
This is a deliberate next step in UNC Charlotte’s larger energy strategy, says Chancellor Sharon Gaber.
“We will prepare graduates for the jobs companies need to fill, work with industry to move promising technologies into use and help attract new companies and investment to the region. Our goal is for Charlotte to be known not only as a place where energy companies operate, but as the place where new energy technologies and talent are developed,” she says.
The school will be housed in the William States Lee College of Engineering. Initial programming includes targeted engineering-based bachelor’s degrees, one in electromechanical engineering technology and another in mechanical engineering technology. A master’s program in applied energy and electromechanical engineering is offered as well.
Those academic programs will address grid automation, transmission-line design and energy-component manufacturing. Additional programming will be developed to address critical industry needs, says Robert Cox, founding director of the School of Energy. He sees room to modernize existing offerings, expand graduate-level programming and concentrate on key areas to meet industry needs.
“We’re going to focus specifically on those things we know are needed by the utilities and their supply chains,” Cox says. “I think there’s a lot of gaps that universities are not filling right now.”
The addition of the School of Energy comes less than a month after UNC Charlotte was selected to lead the National Science Foundation’s Grid Modernization Engine in the Carolinas. That initiative will receive up to $160 million over 10 years.
UNC Charlotte can grow as an intellectual hub, and use the engine as an opportunity and reason to do so, Cox says.
“We’re trying to leverage the moment and say, ‘What can UNC Charlotte do that is uniquely different and really meets this moment that we are in? The infrastructure build that is happening right now is at some level, unprecedented. That’s what the School of Energy is all about.”
Cox is a Duke Energy Distinguished Scholar in Power Engineering Systems and also leads the Energy, Production and Infrastructure Center, or EPIC. That university-industry partnership will serve as the energy school’s interdisciplinary research arm. EPIC was founded in 2008 and has positioned UNC Charlotte as a nationally recognized center for applied energy research.
Cox says the largest infrastructure boom since the railroads were built is underway, driven by AI, data centers and increased demand. It’s crucial to develop a talent pipeline that can design, manufacture and expand the supply chain and advance innovation, Cox says.
“We’re finding there are certain skill sets that are needed. I think we’re looking at the School of Energy as a way to address those very specific skill sets,” Cox says.
He says the goal is for Charlotte and the Carolinas to become the Silicon Valley of grid modernization. The energy school will build on the region’s strengths including its research expertise, industry partnerships and workforce pipeline. That will lead to development of new technologies while attracting companies and investment into the sector.
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