Well-paying green jobs should help stimulate the economy, according to U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis at a recent New Jersey conference. Solis commented that the $500 million set aside by President Obama for green jobs will create opportunities for employment in green industry. The funding will go to projects that create renewable energy, reduce the nation’s dependency on foreign oil and reduce its carbon footprint, she said.

“The seed money will get things stimulated,” reported Solis. The Labor Secretary commented at a forum highlighting the use of federal money for reducing New Jersey’s unemployment under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. 

Christine Couzo, a Stevens  Environmental Engineering graduate, remarked,  “There’s a huge job market in environmental engineering.   We all have starting salaries that are well above average. “  Graduate Matt Fitzsimmons , Mechanical Engineering, agrees.  “Green engineering is a growing field. Environmental engineering courses or internships can benefit career prospects,” he says.
 
“My hope and dream is that we see more businesses pop up here in New Jersey,” adds Labor Secretary Solis, “as the green industry grows.”  Stevens graduates steeped in Technogenesis, Stevens’ technology commercialization philosophy, are eager to take advantage of these new opportunities.
 
“My ecological wireless technology designs created as my senior design project have marketing potential,” states Khairun Nisa Aziz, a 2009 Electrical Engineering graduate student.  “I hope to start a company using my innovations.”  Electrical Engineering graduate Mohd Ibrahim responds,” I am also interested in technology commercialization.  Stevens excels at engineering business management and marketing.”

The green initiatives at Stevens and the new green minor in Environmental Engineering coincide with President Obama’s economic stimulus package for renewable energy programs.

For more information, please contact:

Keith Sheppard
Professor & Associate Dean of Engineering & Science
Edwin A. Stevens Hall
Room 216
Phone: 201.216.5260
Fax: 201.216.8372
Keith.Sheppard@stevens.edu