Nicholls State University will receive a $1.8 million federal grant to start an engineering degree program that will train students for jobs in the emerging clean-energy industry.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration awarded a $50 million federal grant to H₂theFuture, a 25-organization partnership of institutions and businesses across south Louisiana that includes Nicholls.

H₂theFuture, led by the economic-development group Greater New Orleans Inc., is helping to spearhead clean hydrogen production that it hopes will retain and create jobs while substantially lowering carbon emissions in south Louisiana. The project seeks to use renewable energy, such as wind, to separate hydrogen from water for use as fuel, in chemical production and to manufacture other materials.

Nicholls' new engineering technology curriculum will serve that industry as well as help train workers who lost jobs due to the oilfield downturn, Hurricane Ida and the COVID-19 pandemic, university officials said Friday.

"The H2theFuture grant will fund a brand new engineering technology degree program at Nicholls focused on preparing students for the emerging renewable energy industry in Louisiana," John Doucet, dean of the college of sciences and technology, director of coastal initiatives and project leader, said in a news release. "With this funding, Nicholls will be providing high-quality engineering technologists to satisfy workforce needs as well as preparing our students for high-paying technical jobs and careers."

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Energy and engineering industry advisers to Nicholls have indicated that the type of graduate produced by this type of program will be the most employable in the future, he said. Graduates work with electrical and mechanical engineering projects, manage construction projects, coordinate building and maintenance operations and conduct inspections through a variety of methods, including aerial drones.

“We are proud to be a member of the H₂theFuture initiative and so appreciative of this generous grant,” Nicholls President Jay Clune said. “Engineering Technology is a field in demand in our service region, and this will provide the opportunity to earn a degree at Nicholls for these ever-important jobs.”

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Louisiana is well-positioned for the program, in part, because it has the highest per-capita use of industrial hydrogen in the U.S., officials said. Among other advantages, the state:

• Has the densest pipeline system in America, including the largest hydrogen system, stretching more than 700-miles from Galveston Bay in Texas to New Orleans.

• Is home to the second-largest port complex in the Western Hemisphere.

• Has the fourth-largest offshore wind energy potential in the U.S.

• Has multiple universities skilled in energy training.

• Is home to major companies already leading the clean hydrogen development, including CF Industries, Dow and Shell.

To learn about H₂theFuture Energy Transformation in South Louisiana coalition, visit h2thefuture.org.

For information on Nicholls' College of Sciences and Technology and the new engineering program, visit nicholls.edu/sciences-technology.

This article originally appeared on Daily Comet: New Nicholls engineering program to train clean-energy workers