{"id":381929,"date":"2026-08-26T20:46:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T20:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/381929\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T20:46:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T20:46:24","slug":"solar-powered-microgrids-more-unf-wareworks-partnership-gives-students-hands-on-engineering-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/381929\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar-powered microgrids & more: UNF, WareWorks partnership gives students hands-on engineering experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A partnership between the University of North Florida and nonprofit WareWorks<\/a> is giving college and local high school students hands-on experience in engineering and skilled trades.<\/p>\n

At a summer engineering camp held inside WareWorks\u2019 facility, Creekside High School seniors taking UNF classes worked on projects that included installing solar panels to power a small microgrid and designing a portable station to produce drinking water for people in need, said Dr. Sumit Raj, a mechanical engineering professor at UNF.<\/p>\n

RELATED | From Venus Swimwear HQ to a new skilled trades hub: WareWorks opens doors for those looking to \u2018Trade Up\u2019<\/a> | Introducing Trade Up: Elevating skilled trades in Northeast Florida<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is that this would be a portable station where people in need could go in there to the station and have drinking water,\u201d Raj said, adding the unit could be used during hurricanes or by military units operating on remote islands.<\/p>\n

Students praised the off-campus space for its hands-on learning. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey provide a lot of hands-on opportunities for us, and that\u2019s really cool,\u201d one student said, while another described the setting as personal. <\/p>\n

A partnership between the University of North Florida and nonprofit WareWorks is giving college and local high school students hands-on experience in engineering and skilled trades. (Matthew Garcia\/News4JAX Special Projects Photojournalist)<\/p>\n

Several said talking with people who know the field \u201cin depth\u201d was especially valuable.<\/p>\n

Camp participants named a variety of personal future plans, from trade school and becoming an electrician to aerospace engineering, logistics, cybersecurity and computer science. <\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, I want to go and work at SpaceX,\u201d one student said. <\/p>\n

Another said she hopes to major in computer science to learn more about AI and its engineering.<\/p>\n

Students are designing a portable station to produce drinking water for people in need, said Dr. Sumit Raj, a mechanical engineering professor at UNF. (Matthew Garcia\/News4JAX Special Projects Photojournalist)<\/p>\n

A student also noted that trade school can cost less than a traditional four-year college and may let students start careers and earn money more quickly.<\/p>\n

UNF officials explained their partnership with the WareWorks Skilled Trade Institute, saying that WareWorks made a donation to support the university\u2019s lab and that the university has used the WareWorks space for several months. <\/p>\n

A UNF associate professor said WareWorks hopes to develop its entire 135,000-square-foot building into a workforce development hub.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A partnership between the University of North Florida and nonprofit WareWorks is giving college and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[40566,502,16576,113,18364,6919,116,118,117,960,140004,145466,140003,9939,140005],"class_list":["post-381929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-careers","tag-community","tag-creekside-high-school","tag-education","tag-engineering","tag-features","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jobs","tag-skilled-trades","tag-trade-skills","tag-trade-up","tag-unf","tag-wareworks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}