Pumping Up the Future Workforce: Using HI Training Resources in Higher Education

by Shelby Ruiz, Research Associate, Instructor at ID+CL Washington State University

In higher-education teaching positions, educators are often afforded the opportunity to share recent cutting-edge knowledge with students and student employees currently in engineering, design, or construction programs for continuing education. However, there is also a necessity to provide a foundational knowledge on the essential systems.

For this Workforce Wednesdays blog post, director, associate professor, and primary investigator of the Integrated Design and Construction Laboratory (ID+CL), Dr. Julia Day and Shelby Ruiz, research associate at the ID+CL and instructor at Washington State University have the pleasure of diving into a topic that often flies under the radar of design and construction professionals: education about pumps—specifically, smart pumps—and their incredible potential for generating energy savings in our buildings.

Why Pumps Matter

As you likely know, pumps are essential to our infrastructure. They quietly power everything from heating and cooling systems to water supply in high-rise buildings. In fact, pumps account for about 25% of electricity use in the U.S.! It’s hard to believe that these critical systems are often taken for granted and there is a real need for pumps-related education in the construction and mechanical plumbing industries. In the instance of college level education, we are teaching the next generation of building designers, construction managers, and building operators.

Educating the Next Generation

To help fill that gap, the Integrated Design and Construction Lab (ID+CL) supported by Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance’s Commercial Buildings Program, BetterBricks have teamed up the Hydraulic Institute University (HIU) to embed the Introduction to Pump Fundamentals course into WSU’s School of Design and Construction’s building science courses, which are cross listed for architecture and construction management students. We have made this content available to students on this course as well as on Canvas Commons to any instructor who uses Instructure as their learning management system.

The Intro to Pump Fundamentals course on Hydraulic Institute University has six modules and quiz that takes a little less than two hours to complete. In the custom module, students then upload their certificates of completion from the HIU platform into their course module on Canvas and then complete further readings, an additional energy savings calculation assignment (also co-designed with HI) and a short quiz to test their skills and understanding on the content as a whole.

Another significant outcome of the lab’s work with HIU this year has been working to both develop and disseminate industry, education, and workforce training content to improve educator access to technical resources via Canvas. HIU is committed to providing training and resources to help building operators and future professionals understand pumping systems better, through engagement with not only universities like WSU, but also through other trade and vocational schools, community colleges, even middle and high school STEM programs.  The Intro to Pump Fundamentals and Smart Pumps is now available to any instructor or organization that uses Canvas as their learning management system!

For university educators who want to gain access to teaching resources, need assistance with technical expertise, or hope to take advantage of other training and resources we highly recommend you reach out to Matthew Derner, Manager, Business Development, Education & Training Resources, at mderner@pumps.org

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