Board 226: Building Data Center Career Pathways Through K-12 Industry Externships

Josh Labrie; Christopher Russell; Antarjot Kaur

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topics: Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 6
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--42661
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/42661
Download Count: 114

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Paper Authors

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Josh Labrie Northern Virginia Community College

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Josh earned a B.S. in Chemistry and a Master's in Teaching at the University of Virginia, and taught chemistry and physical science in Prince William County Public Schools for 9 years. He joined Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) in 2012 as the program manager of NOVA SySTEMic, the college’s STEM program to expand regional capacity for STEM talent in northern Virginia. As the Director of NOVA SySTEMic he leads the team in STEM Outreach, manages NOVA’s Perkins V award, and maintains a portfolio of NSF and private grants to support STEM and CTE pathways in the region.

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Christopher Russell

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Christopher Russell is the Information and Engineering Technologies Project Manager at Northern Virginia College. His research focuses on developing novel methods of integrating digital fabrication into formal and informal STEM instruction. Currently, he manages two NSF ATE awards - Makers By Design, a design thinking professional learning program for interdisciplinary groups of educators, and Product Design Incubator, a summer-long entrepreneurship program for community college students.

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Antarjot Kaur

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Abstract

Data centers are large, centralized clusters of computing hardware. Enterprise and economic activities that rely on internet services (e.g., cloud-based computing, online commerce, video and audio streaming) require significant data center infrastructure to ensure continuity of services. To provide these services, data centers require significant capital investment, ongoing operational maintenance, and the engineering workforce capacity to support these. Nationally, increasing reliance on distributed computing and off-site data storage has caused a boom in data center construction in multiple key markets nationwide. Additionally, shifts towards telecommuting and spikes in internet demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic have spurred increased demand for fast and reliable access to remote computing infrastructure (Miller, 2020). Northern Virginia has the largest and fastest growing market for data center capacity in the US (JLARC, 2019). Data center capacity is forecasted to double in Virginia during the next 10 years, with most of that growth concentrated in regions of Loudoun County and Manassas (Miller, 2018). The jobs created as a result of these investments offer high salaries for entry level technicians, especially compared with other regional opportunities to 2-year degree holders (Patil, 2019; Schneider & Vivari, 2012).

Despite this rapid growth, data center pathways remain underdeveloped in Northern Virginia. Student and teacher awareness of data centers is low, with the sector operating almost invisibly to the education system (Magnolia Consulting, 2022). This project attempts to improve regional awareness of data center careers through an industry externship targeted to high school counselors from Virginia districts with highly concentrated data center industries. During their externships, educators attended structured tours of Micron Technology and Stack Infrastructure, participated in networking sessions at NOVA campuses, and developed an action plan to bring awareness of data center careers to their institutions. Using pre- and post-surveys, focus groups, and content analysis of action plans, this paper investigates the extent to which participation in externship activities improves educator awareness and knowledge of the data center industry, knowledge of regional career pathways, and intentions to change professional practice. The results are generalized to provide recommendations for practitioners seeking to increase awareness of emerging technological fields within the K-12 education system.

Citation
Format

Labrie, J., & Russell, C., & Kaur, A. (2023, June), Board 226: Building Data Center Career Pathways Through K-12 Industry Externships Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42661

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Data centers are large, centralized clusters of computing hardware. Enterprise and economic activities that rely on internet services (e.g., cloud-based computing, online commerce, video and audio streaming) require significant data center infrastructure to ensure continuity of services. To provide these services, data centers require significant capital investment, ongoing operational maintenance, and the engineering workforce capacity to support these. Nationally, increasing reliance on distributed computing and off-site data storage has caused a boom in data center construction in multiple key markets nationwide. Additionally, shifts towards telecommuting and spikes in internet demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic have spurred increased demand for fast and reliable access to remote computing infrastructure (Miller, 2020). Northern Virginia has the largest and fastest growing market for data center capacity in the US (JLARC, 2019). Data center capacity is forecasted to double in Virginia during the next 10 years, with most of that growth concentrated in regions of Loudoun County and Manassas (Miller, 2018). The jobs created as a result of these investments offer high salaries for entry level technicians, especially compared with other regional opportunities to 2-year degree holders (Patil, 2019; Schneider &amp;amp; Vivari, 2012). 

Despite this rapid growth, data center pathways remain underdeveloped in Northern Virginia. Student and teacher awareness of data centers is low, with the sector operating almost invisibly to the education system (Magnolia Consulting, 2022). This project attempts to improve regional awareness of data center careers through an industry externship targeted to high school counselors from Virginia districts with highly concentrated data center industries. During their externships, educators attended structured tours of Micron Technology and Stack Infrastructure, participated in networking sessions at NOVA campuses, and developed an action plan to bring awareness of data center careers to their institutions. Using pre- and post-surveys, focus groups, and content analysis of action plans, this paper investigates the extent to which participation in externship activities improves educator awareness and knowledge of the data center industry, knowledge of regional career pathways, and intentions to change professional practice. The results are generalized to provide recommendations for practitioners seeking to increase awareness of emerging technological fields within the K-12 education system. 
AU  - Josh Labrie
AU  - Christopher Russell
AU  - Antarjot Kaur
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Board 226: Building Data Center Career Pathways Through K-12 Industry Externships 
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/42661
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--42661
ER  -