ACE Mentor Collaboration Spreads

Posted by & filed under high school, mentorship, News.

ACE Mentor and BEST Center are building on their collaboration that has spread across the country to create pathways from high schools to building technology and trades programs at two-year colleges nationwide. Through ACE’s after-school program in Architecture, Construction, and Engineering, students learn from volunteer mentors in the building industry. 

In Oakland, the ACE team is being hosted once again at Laney College, where students and mentors recently met with faculty and toured the Carpentry, HVAC and Building Automation instructional labs. They also visited the construction site for the new Golden State Warriors stadium. 

Meanwhile, Georgia Piedmont Technical College in Atlanta is working with North Springs High School to bring its team on campus for hands-on activities. Elsewhere, BEST and ACE’s regional directors are helping to introduce ACE teams to nearby community and technical colleges so they can begin planning for next year.

Contact Larry Chang if you are interested in connecting your college. 

 

 

 

Fulbright Scholars Visit Laney College

Posted by & filed under News.

On Wednesday, February 28th, BEST Center was pleased to welcome scholars and staff of the San Francisco Bay Area Fulbright Visiting Scholars Enrichment Program to Laney College. The two Visiting Fulbright Scholars were: Jasmina Husanovic from Bosnia + Herzegovina who is currently conducting research on Cultural Studies at Stanford University, and Pradip Swarnakar from India who is hosted by the University of San Francisco where he is conducting Environmental Sociology research. Both scholars and other guests met with Laney College President Tammeil Gilkerson and BEST Center leadership for a dialogue on the role of community colleges within the higher education in the US, and specifically, the role that career technical education plays in addressing industry needs while helping adult learners prepare for careers in high demand.

Our guests also toured Laney’s BAS lab where Instructor Hadley Hartshorn described how students engage and learn about energy management through lab installations. Lastly, the group enjoyed lunch at Laney Bistro where student chefs prepared and served a meal that was to everyone’s delight. We encourage faculty in the BEST Center network to also consider welcoming onto your respective campuses/labs educators from around the world and varied academic disciplines to learn about the important role that technician education holds in US community colleges.

Silicon Valley Working Group tours UCSF’s Sandler Neuroscience Center

Posted by & filed under Building Automation, News.

On February 9, industry members of the Silicon Valley Working Group took a detour from their normal meeting site at the BEST Center/Laney College Campus, to be hosted by Alexandria Real Estate in San Francisco’s Mission Bay. After the meeting, there was a special tour of the UCSF Sandler Neuroscience Center conducted by Brian Raymond, Facilities Director and Frank Plut, Senior Engineer, two former students of the HPBOP (High-Performance Building Operations Professional) pilot training that was funded by PG&E and SCE.   

The tour of the Sandler Neuroscience Center, a 237,000 square foot, five-story Neurosciences Laboratory and Clinical Research Building was a behind-the-scenes view from the facilities director about how they use their building automation system to manage the building’s performance. The director spoke about the building’s high-performance designs such as natural ventilation, radiant floors, daylighting, and indoor air quality. The laboratory facility is intended to produce 5.8 million pounds less of C02 per year than other similarly-sized laboratories.

The building was completed in 2012. It is one of the largest neurosciences complexes in the world and houses 100 principal investigators including a Nobel Prize winner in addition to 500 staff.

 

More about the building’s sustainability from Clark Construction’s website:

Though the facility earned LEED Gold, the Sandler Neurosciences Center’s sustainability goes beyond a certification. Sustainability and natural elements are an integral part of the building’s design and functionality. The project stands as a new model for sustainability in the research environment. In addition to the outdoor space, natural daylight, and its changing patterns throughout the day, along with access to views, plays a central role in creating humane workspaces and vibrant social and collaborative zones. The design-build team’s unique MEP strategy – planning for current needs, but allowing for expansion – combined with passive cooling in the atrium, and other savings mechanisms, resulted in a staggering 46% reduction in energy use as compared to a conventionally designed research building.

Several sustainability features include, an energy cost savings of 25.7% over the ASHRAE 90.1-2004 Appendix G baseline, diversion of nearly 92% of on-site generated waste during construction, utilization of low emitting finishes and materials throughout, and over 99% of building occupants have access to lighting controls for adjustment to suit individual task needs.

 

News Release: ACE Mentor Program for High School Students Offered this Spring at Laney College

Posted by & filed under News.

Career Exploration and College Scholarships Available

 

(OAKLAND, CA) – Following last year’s successful effort, Laney College and BEST Center are excited to again host ACE Mentor’s afterschool program for Oakland and East Bay high school students. Led by volunteers from local design and construction companies, the program energizes students with hands-on activities and career exploration in architecture, construction, engineering, and skilled trades. Students work on their own designs, and this year, ACE Oakland’s student project is centered around urban design and public parks. Participants are also eligible for scholarships provided by ACE Mentor, which has awarded over $14 million nationwide since inception.

Last year, 33 students completed the semester-long program which culminated in the design of tiny houses to address the local housing crisis. Using Laney’s facilities, mentors helped students to learn new skills in design, traditional and computer-based modeling, and public speaking. Field trips showcased contemporary building technology; meanwhile, guest speakers and college faculty shared their work experiences and reviewed the students’ projects. In addition to supporting these activities, BEST Center highlighted viable career options and community college programs in architecture, building automation, heating and air conditioning, energy management, and construction.

“ACE Mentor is making a difference through its 200+ programs across this country and in communities just like ours. Students are engaged and having fun as they learn about design, sustainable buildings, and network with professionals in the industry and skilled trades,” said Peter Crabtree, BEST’s Principal Investigator and Laney’s Dean of Career and Technical Education. “This important partnership allows us to inspire younger students, who are curious about design and construction, to enroll in community college programs–some of which cannot be found at universities. It is possible to take this path to find a great job and sense of purpose.”

The free program will run from January 24 until May 9 and meet every Wednesday afternoon 4:30-6:45 pm at Laney College. Interested sophomores, juniors, and seniors should apply online at http://www.acementor.org/students/, and applications are due on January 23. Because there are multiple ACE programs in the Bay area, students should identify the one serving their area first before applying. 

About ACE Mentor
The ACE Mentor Program of America, Inc. (ACE) works with high school students and inspires them to pursue careers in architecture, construction, engineering, and skilled trades. Led mostly by volunteers, it’s now the construction industry’s fastest-growing high school mentoring program, reaching over 9,000 students annually. For more information, visit www.acementor.org.

About the BEST Center
The BEST Center (Building Efficiency for a Sustainable Tomorrow) at Laney College supports faculty & staff of public, post-secondary career & technical education programs in HVAC, building automation, building performance and facilities/energy management. It receives grant funding from the National Science Foundation. For more information, visit www.bestctr.org.

About Laney College
Located in the heart of Oakland, Laney is one of four colleges in the Peralta Community College District. Laney offers over 100 high-quality academic and career technical education programs to an estimated 11,000 students. For more information, visit www.laney.edu.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1700705.

Media Contact: Dolores M. Bernal, Public Information Officer, Laney College – dbernal@peralta.edu

Fall/Winter 2017 Newsletter

Posted by & filed under BEST Center, News.

Happy New Year!

We would like to wish you a wonderful and prosperous new year!
The team at the BEST Center is looking forward to what’s to come and invite you to catch up on our news and activities.


Annual Institute is Coming Soon.

We are excited to welcome 43 faculty members from 32 U.S. community and technical colleges from 18 states to our national institute from January 3-6, 2018. This year’s theme “Buildings as Information Systems” connects the work of technicians with the management of high-performance buildings and its positive impact on energy efficiency. Read more.


Updated: Equipment and Software Discounts

Members can access equipment and software discounts from our industry partners. Jon Zeh from Sacramento City College has arranged for free Armstrong Hydronics products and Control Depot offers 45% off list for EasyIO products.
Read more.


Smart Energy Analytics Campaign

In the December meeting, Silicon Valley Working Group welcomed Clair Curtin of LBNL to present on the Smart Energy Analytics Campaign. Sponsored by the DOE, the campaign is providing technical resources such as Fault Detection and Diagnostics to companies/colleges who sign up. Peralta Community College District has signed up all four of its campuses including Laney College. View the PPT slides.


Dr. Deb Hall Reviews the 14th Annual Women in HVACR Conference

Dr. Deb Hall walked away with Texas-sized inspiration from the Women in HVACR conference. Read about her experience and don’t miss her shout out to BEST Center member, Mike Laster of Tarrant County College. Read more.


MATC and COD Launch BAS Programs

In the fall of 2017, Milwaukee Area Technical College in WI and College of DuPage in IL started BAS programs. MATC’s Automated Building Systems (ABS) that was set up to target entry-level technicians in three markets: Contractors, Property Management firms, Facility Owners. College of DuPage’s new 1-year certificate program includes six new courses such as Building Automation Systems Object-Oriented Programming. Read about MATC. Read about COD.


CABA Education and Training Whitepaper Now Available

Last month, CABA published a whitepaper focused on education and training in the home systems and intelligent building sector. The paper examines the training gaps in the connected home and intelligent building industries and the shortage of professionals in the sector. COD, GPTC, Mt. Sac, MATC, and Laney are featured and Larry Chang was a co-author. Read more. Download the whitepaper.


Watch the New Video of Sacramento City College’s Instructional Lab

Take a tour of SCC’s Living Lab at the Mechanical Electrical Technology Department. Guided by Department Chair Jon Zeh, the video covers 18,000 SF of interior and exterior lab space.


A Recap of a K-12 BAS Outreach Opportunity

Dr. Deb Hall presented a hands-on workshop about the refrigeration cycle at Eccleston Elementary, a local area elementary school near Valencia College’s West Campus. By the end, she said the kids knew the difference between a commercial and a residential building, the refrigeration cycle, and that an A.S. degree could be completed in as short as two years! Read more.

“We must follow our consciences and radically overhaul the paradigms of our shared lives on this planet, and to this end we must forge ideas, notions and rules enabling us to lay the foundations of this new commitment.”

― M. Emmanuel Macron, President of France,
regarding the “Global Pact for the Environment”
at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly. 

BEST Center is funded by
a National Science Foundation
Advanced Technological
Education Grant
No. 1700705.

News Release: 32 Colleges Gather at BEST Center’s Annual Institute to Dive into “Buildings as Information Systems”

Posted by & filed under News.

(OAKLAND, CA) – On January 3-6, 2018, BEST Center will host its fourth Annual Institute for community and technical college educators at Laney College in Oakland, and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) in Berkeley, CA. 43 faculty members from 32 U.S. colleges from 18 states will be seeking to improve or start new programs in commercial HVAC, energy management, and building automation. The Institute’s theme, “Buildings as Information Systems”, intends to draw a clear, direct line from managing high-performance buildings to enhancing energy conservation and occupant health. Jerry Yudelson, author of Reinventing Green Buildings, will provide the keynote address that will focus on green building and energy management trends.

Participants will hear from many leading experts and explore activities tailored for classroom use. Here are some highlights of this year’s event:

  • Virtual tools for teaching retro-commissioning and controls.
  • Hands-on networking and programming of open architecture building control
  • Troubleshooting exercise at LBNL’s FLEXLAB to study
  • HVAC economizers.
  • LBNL presentations on the S. Department of Energy’s Smart Energy Analytics Campaign, energy management tools and techniques, and battery storage research.
  • Microgrids and energy storage for integration of local renewable energy sources and enhancing building resilience.
  • Energy audit of Shanghai Tower to find potential energy savings in the world’s second tallest building.
  • Peer-to-peer presentations on best practices in curriculum development, hands-on lab activities, and student recruitment.

“BEST Center is always excited to bring together its educators who have been instrumental to the growth of our cutting-edge programs and student success,” says Peter Crabtree, BEST Principal Investigator and Laney’s Dean of Career and Technical Education. “As their workforce ages, employers are simultaneously challenged to find the next generation of technicians who can support innovative building technologies and a vibrant commercial marketplace. In response, our faculty has committed to invigorate their curricula and supply companies with graduates possessing the advanced technical skills so badly needed.”

About BEST Center
The Building Efficiency for a Sustainable Tomorrow (BEST) Center supports publicly funded 2-year colleges with programs in heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC/R), building automation controls, and energy/facilities management. Sponsored by Advanced Technological Education grants from the National Science Foundation, this national collaborative promotes state-of-the-art building technician education and dissemination of the latest research, technology, and industry collaborations in energy-efficient buildings.

 
For more information, go to:
www.bestctr.org; www.laney.edu; www.nsf.gov; www.lbl.gov 

Tags: 
Annual institute, ATE, BAS, Community Colleges, NSF, high-performance buildings

College of DuPage Launches BAS Program

Posted by & filed under News.

College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, near Chicago, IL started its new 1-year certificate program this fall. According to the college website: “The new certificate consists of 37 credits and includes six new courses: Heating Principles, Building Automation Systems Object-Oriented Programming (both I and II), Building Commissioning, Building Automation Systems Solutions and Building Automation Systems Integration with Open Protocols.” HVACR faculty members Jim Janich and Bob Clark also worked on the curriculum with BEST Center.

Congratulations, Jim, Bob, and COD! We hope new students will be banging down the door.

Read more. 

MATC Launches a BAS Program

Posted by & filed under Building Automation, Network of community colleges, News.

By Ted Wilinski 

 

A recent graduate

In the fall, MATC started a BAS program, Automated Building Systems (ABS). As with most technical colleges, this program required the input and support of local industry to develop and promote. The program was developed, lab space built out, and classes rolled out in less than a year. 

ABS was set up to target entry-level technicians in three markets: 1) Contractors/installers, 2) Property Management firms, 3) Facility Owners.  It is a two-semester program with 25 credits spread out over 11 classes. Classes rotate between evening and daytime slots to allow those currently working to complete the diploma on a part-time basis in two years.  

Instructional space consists of two rooms, each about 25’x45′, one a classroom and the other the lab. There are two different digital lighting control systems (WattStopper & Crestron), a heat pump, furnace w/economizer, PTAC, and five VAV-AHU Trainers with DDC controls (Metasys with plans to duplicate with EasyIO). The small space is augmented with a large (roughly 4725 SF) HVAC lab down the hall, so having a small lab and classroom is not a hindrance. 

It is constantly being revised to work out the kinks and adjust to industry needs. We have been seeing that the night work-load for many is heavy so the industry is asking that we scale back on content and focus on basics more. We are in the process of reducing one class (networking) from 4 to 2 credits as a result of their request and will be looking at more as time goes on.  

Last spring, May 2017, three students graduated and all have jobs. One of the students reported multiple offers around $50,000/year.  Currently, there is a cohort of six going through the program with four expected to graduate.

The biggest challenge is finding students and programming instructors.  We have been marketing to all the usual groups but it is taking time to build the program. I am being told that it takes a good three years to get the numbers up.  

 

Ted Wilinski, BEST Center Co-PI and Automated Building Systems & Sustainability Instructor, ECAM || MATC

A Recap of a K-12 BAS Outreach Opportunity

Posted by & filed under Building Automation, Network of community colleges.

By Deb Hall

I presented a hands-on workshop about the refrigeration cycle at Eccleston Elementary, an elementary school near Valencia College’s West Campus. There were four different classes back-to-back (one 3rd grade, two 4th grade, and one 5th grade). By the end, I thought the kids enjoyed it and now know the difference between a commercial and a residential building, the various states that refrigerant goes through within the refrigeration cycle, and that an A.S. degree could be completed in as short as two years!

I’d like to express my IMMENSE gratitude to the BEST Center along with those brilliant University of Wisconsin at Madison DDC instructors and Orange Technical College HVACR instructors for sharing their invaluable wisdom and insight with me as I have been trying to piece together how to bring these high-level HVACR and BAS DDC concepts into a hands-on K-12 learning environment that could actually get young kids excited about one day pursuing a career within the BAS industry. This past community outreach workshop would absolutely have not been possible without your extraordinary input and encouragement!

Contact Deb Hall if you would like to more information on how to conduct this hands-on refrigeration cycle workshop in order to excite K-12 students about the amazing world of BAS and HVACR and all of its exciting career opportunities!

Deb Hall, Energy Management and Controls Technology Program Chair | Electronics Engineering Technology Program Chair | Co-Principal Investigator NSF ATE Proposal 1601403 | IEEE Orlando Section Vice Chair | ASHRAE Valencia Student Branch Faculty Advisor, Valencia College

Photos taken by Blake Urbach

Edited by BEST Center

 

Review: The 14th Annual Women in HVACR Conference

Posted by & filed under Network of community colleges, News.

By Dr. Deb Hall

 

On September 27th and 28th of 2017, the Women in HVACR Conference met for the first time as a stand-alone conference! In the past, they usually partnered with an existing HVACR related conference. Check out the web link below to see a few photos of what Texas-sized FUN was had by all who attended…Yeehaw!!!

 

Both men and women are welcome to attend this conference which was held this year at Tarrant County College’s Center of Excellence for Energy Technology in Fort Worth, Texas. But as you might guess, the male attendees were in the minority. Something that most men working in the HVACR industry are not accustomed to, but their female colleagues most certainly are.

 

A welcome networking reception was held in downtown Fort Worth at a historic restaurant called the Reata on their “Sunset Deck”. The food and ambiance were beautiful, but what was even more special was the Women in HVACR Conference attendees. Everyone was so welcoming and excited about the conference’s guest speakers, activities planned for the next day, meeting new female colleagues working in the HVACR industry, and reconnecting with old friends made at past conferences.

 

The HVACR expertise present at the conference was extensive. The conference attendees were comprised of individuals working in controls, sales, education, marketing, advertising, graphic design, service, equipment design, and entrepreneurship. If it somehow involved HVACR, you could be sure that you would find someone at this conference who did it! How this conference may have differed from your more traditional HVACR conference was in its overarching theme of “Discover Your Legacy” that was woven throughout each guest speaker’s presentation. Elva LeBlanc who was the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost of Tarrant County College was our event kickoff presenter.

 

We also heard from Rhonda Wiggins who is an HVACR instructor from Hennepin Technical College and was the Runner Up in “The NEWS 2016 Instructor of the Year. Her talk was called “Sequence of Operation: A Technical Memoir” and involved detailing a typical gas furnace sequence of operations. Rhonda mentioned that there are two main industry complaints about HVACR program graduates: their electrical skills are weak and that HVACR technicians are never on time.

 

BAS technicians could also benefit from strong electrical troubleshooting and time management skills. Something to think about as we create our own BAS program curriculum. Our highly motivating Keynote Speaker was Elizabeth McCormick who discussed “YOU. In the Pilot’s Seat”. She was a former Black Hawk pilot who was absolutely inspirational. She provided the audience with self-confidence boosting daily activity ideas and had us work in smaller teams to learn the power of negative verses, positive spoken words and integrity through various most intriguing activities.

 

The Women in HVACR also awarded three female students $2000 scholarships each which they can use for anything that might help them either academically or professionally. During lunch, we heard from Melissa Santillan, a passionate recent graduate of Mike’s college who now works at A/C Supply. Her topic was “Why I decided to pursue my education in the HVAC Technical Program at TCC”. She then broke us up into teams to discover the importance of encouraging each other within the HVACR industry.

 

I’ve only highlighted a few of the conference guest speakers to give you an idea of how the conference’s theme, “Discover Your Legacy”, was threaded throughout the conference. Our very own Mike Laster from Tarrant County College led one of our Center of Excellence for Energy Technology tours which were conducted in the afternoon. We ended our day at a gorgeous Mexican restaurant in Fort Worth called Joe T. Garcia’s. If you ever get a chance to visit Mike at Tarrant County College, make sure to swing by that place for some amazing food topped off with beautifully lit up outdoor gardens intertwined with tiled water fountains and live Mexican musicians strolling from table to table taking song suggestions! I wanted to request “Deep in the Heart of Texas”, but I don’t know if there is a Mexican version of that hardcore Texan ballad!

 

I also recommend encouraging your female students to apply for one of the Women in HVACR’s scholarships and if at all possible, to attend a future Women in HVACR Conference. Maybe someday each of us at the BEST Center could figure out a way to fund the cost of sending at least one of our female BAS students from each of our programs to attend this conference? Anyone who is fortunate enough to attend a Women in HVACR Conference should be ready for a mindset modifying, inspiring, and re-energizing good time…similar to what happens at our own BEST Center workshops!

 

Deb Hall, Energy Management and Controls Technology Program Chair | Electronics Engineering Technology Program Chair | Co-Principal Investigator NSF ATE Proposal 1601403 | IEEE Orlando Section Vice Chair | ASHRAE Valencia Student Branch Faculty Advisor, Valencia College