YSU leads charge for the future of energy storage in Northeast Ohio

Youngstown State University is sponsoring a virtual workshop this week intended to help create a vision to make Northeast Ohio the national leader in energy storage workforce and innovation.

The event, titled the Northeast Ohio Regional Energy Storage Workforce and Innovation Road Mapping Workshop, is 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 30. Registration here.

The workshop is being held in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, BRITE Energy Innovators and Team NEO to discuss the future of work for the energy storage industry in the Northeast Ohio region.

The YSU Division of Workforce Education and Innovation, Oak Ridge and BRITE have been commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy to identify what is possible to make Northeast Ohio the leader in energy storage workforce and innovation through the development of a National Energy Storage Workforce Training and Innovation Center pilot.

The workshop is part of YSU's work with DOE to research, inform and guide industry on sustainable and scalable national workforce strategies for energy storage. Among the topics that will be discussed:

• The future-forward skills, occupations and training programs needed to support the regional/national ecosystem.
• Energy storage research and development needs that are being unmet by research entities, academia and national labs.
• Factors for creating a successful national energy storage training and innovation center in the region.
• Need to expand the supply chain for energy storage manufacturing.

For more information on the YSU Division of Workforce Education and Innovation, visit www.ysu.edu/workforce.