Inspiring Minds: Vanderbilt and Tennessee Valley Authority Nurture Next Generation of Engineers

Giuliano Fazzolari remembers his first time stepping onto the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville, Tennessee. With Gothic exteriors and towering red brick facades, the buildings seemed giant compared to his high school in Pennsylvania.

He'll never forget the excited vibe of the classroom that first day.

"It was completely different," he said. "It felt like college."

In his free time, Fazzolari enjoys tinkering with his 3D printer and crafting auto parts from silicone for family and friends.

But one week in June - to experience real-world applications of all things engineering - he joined high school students from around the world at the Vanderbilt Summer Academy.

Offered as part of the Vanderbilt Programs for Talented Youth at the university's Peabody College of education and human development, the academy helps high-potential students like Fazzolari find their passion while gaining skills to help jumpstart their careers.

And this year, as part of its mission of service and talent development, TVA partnered with Vanderbilt Programs for Talented Youth to welcome the first cohort of rising seniors in a week-long combustion turbine course, one of many unique offerings throughout the summer.

Meredith Neal, TVA's senior program manager of combustion turbines, led the instruction.

At TVA, Neal manages the combustion turbines that are integral parts of TVA's gas fleet.

But within Vanderbilt's classroom walls, she's known as Professor Neal, a Formula One racing fan.

To guide this next generation of young engineers, Neal drew from her wealth of experience as an engineer and her mentorship of TVA interns.

Seeing the students grow by finding real solutions to complicated problems was immensely rewarding, Neal said.

"They're very smart kids," she said. "Engineers aren't known for being the most extroverted people. But these students evolved through the program. Hearing them present at the end of class, specifically on technical issues, was amazing."

"We need engineers and we need technical people. And if we're able to inspire a couple of kids to come and join us at TVA or another power utility, that's going to be beneficial to us as well," said Meredith Neal, TVA's senior program manager of combustion turbines.

Kickstarting Careers

First launched in summer 2000, the Programs for Talented Youth offers week-long and two-week residential programs for students in grades seven through 12 attending Vanderbilt Summer Academy. It also offers week-long day programs for students going into grades one through eight.

This past summer, the program welcomed 1,800 students from 40 states and more than 10 countries. It offered 120 courses supported by upwards of 200 seasonal staff members.

As the program's executive director who's been on staff since 2012, Sarah DeLisle Fecht has seen the program's success in helping young people find their true calling.

"Next summer Programs for Talented Youth will be entering into our 25^th year," Fecht said. "I get to speak to alums and parents who quite often say, 'The summer my child came to the program was when they realized what they wanted to do with their lives.' How powerful is that?"

"As a scholar of talent identification and talent development, I know just how important these kinds of accelerated learning and enrichment opportunities can be for these students," Camilla P. Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart dean of Education and Human Development at Peabody said.

"These are the moments that can launch future innovators and discoverers."

Vanderbilt Summer Academy meets students where they are in their academic journeys, but then takes them to the next level by exposing them to a wide variety of topics and challenging experiences. It also connects them to instructors who are experts in their fields.

In each step, the program relies on partners like TVA and content experts like Neal to provide expertise and experiences that translate to the real world.

"Some of our kids come in and say, 'I've known since I was 10 that I wanted to be an engineer. I've watched and read everything there is to know about the Tennessee Valley Authority and I'm ready for that next level,'" Fecht said.

"It really takes a content expert in the field, someone who does the work every day, to be able to go as deep into the content as a student wants and is ready."

The summer academy's students toured TVA's Gallatin Fossil Plant and Gallatin Combustion Turbine Plant.

Class in Session

This year, 20 students attended TVA and Vanderbilt's summer combustion turbine class.

The five-day course challenged students through exercises mimicking real-life scenarios that occur within TVA's power operations - from turbine maintenance and repair to balancing a turbine's power.

Among the students was high school senior Ella Giacalone, a New Jersey resident who has her sights set on a career in engineering.

Giacalone saw the summer academy as a golden opportunity to embrace challenges that go beyond the traditional high school experience.

"I really like math and I'm a science-based person," she said. "I got an email about the Vanderbilt Summer Academy and thought, 'This sounds perfect for me.'"

When she entered the classroom that first day and saw turbine parts spread across a table, she knew this was the place.

With encouragement from Professor Neal, she and the other students jumped right in. They explored the foundations of the power grid and mechanical engineering, then examined each component to understand its role in power operations.

Midway through the course, Sam Bertram, a system engineer from TVA's Fleet Technical Services, brought in a rotor kit to teach students how to calculate balance shots for power turbines.

That's when everything clicked, Giacalone said.

"Being able to do the calculations and feel fully involved in something TVA does on their own turbines - to me, that was one of my favorite parts of the week," Giacalone said.

Following Bertram's visit, the students toured TVA's Gallatin Fossil Plant and Gallatin Combustion Turbine Plant where they saw lessons from the classroom put into action.

Giacalone marveled at the heat emanating from the plant's machinery, and she and her classmates stood in awe as they gazed up at the massive stacks.

The experience left a lasting impression.

"We were talking about these concepts all week long," Giacalone said. "And being able to see everything in person was really intriguing."

"You realize that hundreds of thousands of homes are being powered with all this energy that is producing," Fazzolari said. "It's hard to conceive that amount of power is being made at one time."

The program introduces young people to high-level concepts early in their academic careers, which helps set them up for future success.

Nurturing the Next Generation

Introducing young people to high-level concepts early in their academic careers sets them up for future success, Fecht said.

Fecht also said that offering an engineering course in partnership with TVA held a special place in her heart as her father, Mike DeLisle, served at TVA for 46 years before retiring in 2022.

From Neal's perspective, helping students unravel the complexities of the electric grid can foster a greater understanding of how communities are powered - ultimately instilling a sense of energy stewardship in the next generation of engineers.

"We need engineers and we need technical people," Neal said. "And if we're able to inspire a couple of kids to come and join us at TVA or another power utility, that's going to be beneficial to us as well. But I really think raising awareness and appreciation for what we do is also a big deal."

When Fazzolari and Giacalone enter the workforce in the next few years, they'll do so with a greater understanding of the chain of events that occur when they flip on a light switch.

They'll know that it's not magic. It's the product of dedicated people like Neal and Bertram, who work every day to provide affordable, reliable and sustainable power to TVA's seven-state region.

And ideally, these young students will feel inspired to follow in their footsteps.

"I see myself having a degree in engineering, ideally from Vanderbilt," Giacalone said. "And then, being able to get a job in the field and doing what I'm passionate about."

"I don't know exactly where I want to be yet, but I know it's within engineering - and I definitely want to go into something that's hands-on," Fazzolari said. "This experience helped me narrow down where I want to go and what I want to do in life. It helped refine it."

Meredith Neal, TVA's senior program manager of combustion turbines, chats with Sarah DeLisle Fecht, Vanderbilt Programs for Talented Youth executive director, and Mark Shivers, Ph.D., director of residential and secondary programs at the Programs for Talented Youth.

The original article was published by the Tennessee Valley Authority on November 15, 2024.

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