8/13/2019 USC - Viterbi School of Engineering - USAID Chooses
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USAID Chooses Viterbi School for IndonesiaGeothermal Education
Effort
USC Center for Geothermal Studies Director Fred Aminzadeh will
work with the Institut Teknologi Bandung to trainspecialists
December 01, 2011
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has
selected the USC Viterbi School ofEngineering to work with a top
Indonesian university to train experts in geothermal power.
Faculty members from the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB)
recently came to Los Angeles to meet withProfessor Fred Aminzadeh
and initiate the US-Indonesian Geothermal Educational Capacity
Building
program.
Aminzadeh, a faculty member in the Viterbi School's Mork Family
Department of Chemical Engineering andMaterials Science and its
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, is the executive
director of the
USC Center for Geothermal Studies(CGS).
He will be working with ITB faculty including Nenny Miryani
Saptadji, manager of the geothermal graduateprogram; Darharta
Dahrin, head of the institute's research group in applied
geophysics; and Zuher Syihab, aspecialist in reservoir
engineering.
Geothermal energy is an extremely important clean energy source,
particularly for California," said Viterbi
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Fred Aminzadeh is executive director of the USCCenter for
Geothermal Studies.
Dean Yannis C. Yortsos, who has himself made many technical
contributions in the field. "The USC Center for Geothermal
Studiesis expected to make a significant impact on improving
ourunderstanding Geothermal Reservoirs and how best to tap into
this
type of renewable energy.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago dotted with numerous
activevolcanoes, has great geothermal power resources, says
Aminzadeh, but they need to increase their experts by more than
afactor of five in the next few years to meet the technical
staffing
requirements of the projected dramatic increase in
producingelectricity from geothermal reservoirs.
The plan is to have USC expertise and resources including
its
Distance Education Networkand iPodia programhelp ITB buildits
geothermal education program, with the help ofStar Energy,
anindependent company based in Indonesia that operates ageothermal
facility in Wayang Windu in western Java only 24 miles
from the ITB campus in the city of Bandung.
This project is about providing educational opportunity
andbuilding a base of well-trained technically capable
professionals for
the renewable energy industry. But it encompasses more than
that.It is also about building the capacity and programs, and
relationships between universities and industry, that will
enable andempower the resource needed for all innovation and
development: skilled and motivated people, said StarEnergy CEO Bret
Mattes. Building the capacity and quality of Indonesias geothermal
education programs
will have a profound impact on developing Indonesias vast
geothermal resources for generations to come.
We are very excited, said ITB's Syihab. We are delighted to be
working with the Viterbi School.
The project is funded by USAID through 2014. According to the
agreement, project goals are to:
Build capacity for the geothermal educational program at ITB
which will provide for expanding thenumber of graduates who focus
on geothermal energy development.Broaden the exposure of students
and faculty to the global geothermal power business.
Provide opportunities for USC to further develop and expand its
geothermal education programsthrough a partnership in one of the
most resource rich geothermal areas of the world.
Provide direct industry input into education initiatives and
lead greater involvement and coordination
between academia and industry in the Indonesian geothermal
business (through Star Energy and otherpotential industry partners
on the advisory board to be formed).Build on the experience base of
both ITB and USC on geothermal related education and R&D, with
help
from industry representatives to make such educational programs
more relevant to the real life
challenges and requirements of geothermal operators.
This USAID sponsored project is yet another example of the
expansion of geothermal related programs atUSC
and its Center for Geothermal Studies.
Last year we received a $1.5 million dollar grant from the
Department of Energyto work on mapping andmodeling of fracture
system in the Geysers area in Northern California's Sonoma County,
said Aminzadeh,who also serves as the managing director of the USC
Energy Institutes Global Energy Center. Other activities
of CGS include its monthly web-based distinguished lecture
series that can be accessed worldwide and itsAnnual Technical
Workshop (ATW).
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