Wyden pushes energy education, jobs in Bend

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., met with OSU-Cascades officials and several energy industry employers Friday, a discussion that focused on the importance of alternative forms of energy, and new jobs they could create.

Now that OSU-Cascades is moving toward becoming a four-year university, it hopes to attract students from all over the country, and land them jobs locally.

“We have an opportunity to put our young people into very good jobs, the jobs of the future,” Wyden said.

Wyden said he is very interested in the energy systems engineering program, mainly to find a way to reduce the country’s dependency on foreign oil.

“When I was coming into town, I was looking at those diesel prices of $4.15 and regular unleaded at $4 a gallon,” the senator said. “People are going to be looking for alternative options.”

Thanks to a $700,000 federal grant, OSU-Cascades professors and students have already started their research. The money will pay for a project to find out if cars can compress and store natural gas, giving people the option to fill up at home from their natural gas connection.

“Young people who master some of the issues surrounding energy policy and engineering are going to have some great jobs,” said Wyden. “And I think it’s wonderful to see OSU is on the cutting edge of the research.”

The energy systems engineering degree is unique to OSU-Cascades. It’s not offered at the Corvallis campus, and there have been 15 transfers already.

“I think this will start to attract more students from other areas,” said program leader Robin Feuerbacher. “We’ve already been getting calls from students in Pennsylvania, New York and California. And it will also start to help the local industries by providing them a local source of engineers.”

The local industries include Bend Research and Triquint, who already take on OSU Cascade interns. University officials hope the graduates will find permanent positions in Central Oregon and make it their home.

“When those students come to a university, they often want to stay there for the future jobs,” said OSU Vice President Becky Johnson. “So we can contribute to the workforce here in a way where it may have been harder to attract students, if they didn’t come here in the first place.”

The energy engineering program started in October 2010 and their first graduates will get their diploma this fall. University officials hope the first freshman class will start classes in 2015.