Fuel initiative details $160M NSF investment, workforce pipeline and community-college pilots

Lacey McManus, workforce development director for Fuel (Future Use of Energy in Louisiana), briefed the Clean Hydrogen Task Force on Oct. 7 about workforce programs funded by a large National Science Foundation award and state matching funds.

“We are very much focused on future proofing Louisiana’s energy sector for the generations to come,” McManus said, describing Fuel’s three pillars: use-inspired R&D, technology commercialization and workforce development. She said the NSF award is “up to $160,000,000 in investment from NSF for up to 10 years” and that Louisiana Economic Development (Lehi) is matching roughly $67,500,000 over the same period.

McManus said Fuel allocated about $1,000,000 across 14 subawards in its initial workforce round and reported interim results after roughly six months: expanded K–12 summer programming, higher-education student engagement, and teacher training to improve local career pipelines. She described a planned second NSF award application in December that would seek approximately $45,000,000 over three years if awarded.

Donovan (Jonathan) Thompson, Dean of Energy Sciences at River Parishes Community College (RPCC), described RPCC’s EPIC consortium and the E3 Academy, an after-school program for third graders in Ascension Parish that pairs teacher “train-the-trainer” development with hands-on energy activities. RPCC is also expanding stackable credentials, dual enrollment and a fast-track associate-degree pathway to serve incumbent workers and career-changers, Thompson said.

McManus and Thompson tied workforce demand to recent and projected industrial expansion in Louisiana. Fuel’s internal analysis presented to the task force estimated roughly 2,000 job openings over a 45-month horizon tied to announced projects and noted that hydrogen projects with carbon-capture (blue hydrogen) tend to show higher job counts than electrolytic-only projects, a detail McManus said stakeholders should consider.

Speakers and task force members emphasized aligning curriculum with employer needs, supporting incumbent-worker upskilling, and building entrepreneurial pathways so Ph.D. research can be commercialized without removing faculty from university research roles. McManus said Fuel will fund curriculum enhancements, stipends to improve access, and an accelerator-style founders program for graduate students interested in commercialization.

Ending: Fuel officials asked task force members to continue industry–education coordination and said detailed program descriptions, participant counts and project reports would be included in the initiative’s interim reports and appended to the task force’s final report.