Columbia Gorge Community College Program Profile

• 2 smart classrooms with 120V/208V 3 phase AC outlets at front of class for demonstration purposes.
• 2 bench labs each station equipped with power supply, function generator, digital multimeter, oscilloscope, and computer. Drop 120V/208V 3 phase AC to each connection.
• Special purpose equipment lab: electronics, motor control, PLCs, wind turbine nacelle trainer, wind turbine pitch trainer (electrical and hydraulic), pneumatics, protective relays.
• Mechanics and hydraulics lab: gear boxes, tools, shaft alignment trainers, and rigging.

Yes. Regionally and nationally wind turbine technicians remain in high demand. Additionally, graduates routinely find employment in hydropower, power transmission, advanced manufacturing, avionics, and food and beverage processing.

The Electro-Mechanical Technology program is rooted in rigorous and thorough electronics and motor control. These skills remain in continual demand regardless of industry. Additionally, content for the first year electronics, hydraulics, and motor control courses has been placed online and the courses are
taught using the flipped classroom approach in a hybrid format. Students watch lectures at the time and place of their own choosing and class time is spent in a hardware lab working with actual equipment. The online format additionally allows a student to review content and cuts down on text book expense.

The Renewable Energy Technology program was created with the assistance of:

• GE
• Vestas
• Siemens
• Avangrid
• EDF

Since rebranding the program as Electro-Mechanical Technology, the STEM committee has grown to include representatives of:

• Bonneville Power Administration
• US Army Corps of Engineers
• Cardinal Glass
• Turtle Island Foods
• HP
• Insitu
• HoodTech
• CloudCap
• SDS Lumber

Students are not required to obtain an internship, however, a large number do accept summer internships with Field Core, GE, HP, SDS Lumber, Powder Pure, and Zepher.

Columbia Gorge Community College’s (CGCC) Renewable Energy Technology program was one of the first three schools to receive the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) seal of approval in 2011. CGCC’s Electro-Mechanical Technology program was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) to develop online resources for the first year electronics, hydraulics, and motor control courses. Links to free online content:

• Basic Electronics: DC Circuit Analysis
• Basic Electronics: Single Phase AC Circuit Analysis
• Basic Electronics: 3 Phase AC Circuit Analysis
• Hydraulics
• Motor Control