Crowder College in Neosho, Missouri offers both two-year Associate’s degree programs, and one-year Diploma programs in alternative energy, with studies available online. The two-year program covers biofuels – both biodiesel and ethanol; solar power; and wind power. One year programs can be in either solar, biofuels, or wind power. Students at Crowder built a solar powered electric race car that beat several other student-built projects in racing competition. In their first major race the two-year college students won the race competing against students from the prestigious MIT, or Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Alternative Energy Program at this community college provides engineering and science students with a unique applied foundation in solar and renewable energy technology. The program emphasizes learning through team based applied research projects and the curriculum is a result of a cooperative agreement between Crowder College and the School of Engineering at the University of Missouri at Rolla. Cooperative programs are available at Missouri State University and Pittsburg State University for those wanting to go on to a four-year Bachelor’s degree. The program is housed in the MARET Center, or Missouri Alternative and Renewable Energy Technology Center after the state’s legislature designated Crowder College in 1992 as the State’s renewable energy education center. The MARET Center is recognized internationally for its contributions to the energy field. The mission of the MARET Center is to expand renewable energy throughout the region with education, applied research, and economic development. Crowder provides a reasonably priced educational experience for those wanting to learn more about alternative energy.
Missouri’s premier university for technology has always been the University of Missouri Rolla Campus, once known as the School of Mines when mining technology was the ultimate in the 1800’s. Now the school has been renamed Missouri S&T, or Missouri University of Science and Technology. Missouri S&T students in the solar energy program recently attended the Go Green Self Reliance Festival in southern Missouri and liked the event enough that they are promoting their own self-reliance and sustainable energy festival in their city of Rolla in the fall. The school includes many student run organizations to promote the modern use of alternative energy and teach both traditional and older students the skills necessary to move into the future. The Missouri S&T Solar Car Student Design Team is a student run organization which promotes multidisciplinary work between engineering and non-engineering related fields, giving students the experience of design and going into competition with a goal of designing, building, and racing an innovating solar electric car. The group consists of 40 students and faculty members combining technologies. The school also has a student Solar House Team that built a totally solar powered home at the US Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon in 2015.
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