{"71908":{"#nid":"71908","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Simulation-based Training\/Education Center Opens","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWho\u0027ll keep the lights on?  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs utility company executives make plans to meet the growing electricity needs of the Southeast, they\u0027re also watching their most experienced personnel approach retirement age.  Finding enough skilled personnel to operate complex power-generation facilities poses one of the most critical challenges facing the industry today.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ECollaboration between Baltimore-based GSE Systems and the Georgia Institute of Technology offers one solution: a new way of learning that combines traditional classroom training with hands-on experience using advanced computer simulations of complex industrial facilities.  Simulations have long been used to train pilots, but are relatively new to other types of industrial training.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThis \u0027learning by seeing and doing\u0027 offers utility companies a way to more rapidly meet their most critical human resources needs.   \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022People learn by seeing, experiencing and actually doing something,\u0022 explained Eric Johnson, senior operations training specialist for GSE Systems.  \u0022We can reinforce what students have learned in class by allowing them to interact with a simulation of a facility.  The simulation allows them to gain experience without actually having to be in a real plant, and that helps new employees become productive faster.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETo provide that innovative learning environment, GSE has built a multi-million-dollar simulation and education center at Georgia Tech\u0027s Global Learning Center in Technology Square.  The company officially opened the facility - the first of its kind in the United States - with a ceremony September 13.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe center includes more than a dozen LCD panels driven by a powerful computer to simulate the many key systems operated from the control room of an electric generating plant.  Student operators can adjust controls and immediately see the effects of their actions not only on the system they are controlling, but also on the rest of the plant.  Realistic warnings indicate potentially dangerous conditions to which the students must respond.  Three-dimensional models show the systems and exact components being controlled.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The simulation allows plant systems to be integrated so the student operators really see the issue and understand the problems,\u0022 added Johnson.  \u0022We can show them how to operate everything from the simplest system to the whole interrelationship of the systems.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe new facility currently offers simulations for gas turbine and combined-cycle gas turbine generating plants.  GSE sees a major market for its \u0027education through simulation\u0027 training, and plans to add simulations for nuclear power generating stations, petroleum refineries, desalinization plants, oil and gas platforms, distribution facilities - and perhaps more.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0027Every complex entity - airports, seaports, and large production facilities - is going need simulation training to improve the work force,\u0022 said Michal Krause, director of university programs for GSE.  \u0022I believe that with this collaboration, we are headed toward a new dimension in training and education.\u0022\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTo keep its facilities running - and to staff the new ones required by growing demand for power - utility companies will have to heavily recruit and train new staff.  An estimated 40 percent of the industry\u0027s current work force will retire in the next five years, while as many as 1,200 employees will be needed for each new nuclear power plant built.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThose employees will range from recent high school graduates who need basic industrial instruction to skilled engineers who need to learn more about the power-generation environment.  The industry also wants to diversity its work force, bringing in more women and under-represented minorities.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Nothing in this economy runs without power, so if we are looking for continued economic growth, we\u0027ll have to include growth in electric power generation,\u0022 Krause added. \u0022In the Southeast alone, the electric power industry will have a work force of 100,000 over the next decade.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech is contributing expertise in complex simulations as well as systems designed for augmented reality - and for wireless networking that will allow close monitoring of student operators in the facility.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Georgia Tech is pleased to be involved with GSE Systems in the opening of the new simulation training center,\u0022 said Roger Webb, interim director of Georgia Tech\u0027s Strategic Energy Institute.  \u0022We view this state-of-the-art facility as potentially a great tool for teaching our Georgia Tech students about the \u0027real-world\u0027 issues involved with the generation of electricity.  In addition, we see the center as a means of increasing Georgia Tech\u0027s involvement with the many electrical utilities that are expanding and developing in the Southeast.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBeyond improvements for the power generation industry, the collaboration is also providing long-term economic development benefits to the state.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Georgia Tech is helping GSE Systems improve the technological knowledge base and the quality of the power generation work force - an area of critical importance to the state, nation and world,\u0022 said Wayne Hodges, vice provost in Georgia Tech\u0027s Enterprise Innovation Institute.  \u0022As a result, GSE established a research and development operation in Technology Square, brought new high-technology jobs to the state, and will offer co-op, intern and full-time employment opportunities to our students.\u0022  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EGSE operates a similar simulation training facility at Strathclyde University in Scotland.  It serves companies all around the world, including the Middle East, where it is building another center in the United Arab Emirates.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 100\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAtlanta, Georgia  30308  USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon (404-894-6986); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E) or Lisa Grovenstein (404-894-8835); E-mail: (\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:lisa.grovenstein@icpa.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elisa.grovenstein@icpa.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: John Toon\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Facility focuses on human resource needs of power generation industry"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"Collaboration between Baltimore-based GSE Systems and the Georgia Institute of Technology offers a new tool for industrial training that combines traditional classroom teaching with hands-on experience using advanced computer simulations of complex industrial facilities.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New education facility focuses on power industry"}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2007-09-13 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:03:24","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2007-09-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2007-09-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"71909":{"id":"71909","type":"image","title":"Simulation and education center","body":null,"created":"1449177414","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:54","changed":"1475894647","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:07"},"71910":{"id":"71910","type":"image","title":"Teaching with simulation","body":null,"created":"1449177414","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:54","changed":"1475894647","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:07"},"71911":{"id":"71911","type":"image","title":"3-D Simulation","body":null,"created":"1449177414","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:16:54","changed":"1475894647","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:07"}},"media_ids":["71909","71910","71911"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.innovate.gatech.edu\/","title":"Enterprise Innovation Institute"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.energy.gatech.edu\/","title":"Strategic Energy Institute"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"7548","name":"generation"},{"id":"1670","name":"personnel"},{"id":"167045","name":"simulation"},{"id":"2661","name":"training"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Toon\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=jt7\u0022\u003EContact John Toon\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-6986\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jtoon@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}