Blue Turf Thinkers: College of Engineering builds Idaho’s energy workforce

College of Engineering faculty were recognized as Blue Turf Thinkers at the Sept. 12 game. Photo by Priscilla Grover

At each Boise State home football game, the "Blue Turf Thinkers" series honors outstanding groups and initiatives on the world-renowned Blue Turf. The Sept. 12 game's "Blue Turf Thinkers" featured the College of Engineering.

For more than 70 years, Idaho has been at the forefront of energy and power innovation. In 1951, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) introduced the first reactor in the world to generate usable electricity from nuclear power, and four years later the nearby town of Arco, Idaho, became the first community in the world lit entirely by nuclear energy.

Today, the College of Engineering at Boise State is carrying that legacy forward. Through established partnerships, faculty, staff and students across the college have been working to advance energy lifecycles and strengthen the state and nation's energy security, ensuring Idaho remains the home of America's energy renaissance.

"Idaho is uniquely positioned to lead the future of power and energy," College of Engineering Dean Amy Fleischer said. "Our faculty are tackling some of the most pressing energy challenges facing our state and nation, working alongside national laboratories and industry leaders to turn discovery into real impact for Idahoans. When higher education, national labs, and industry come together, we create an innovation ecosystem that can make a lasting difference for Idaho and far beyond."

Bridging two worlds

Central to this critical work is the Strategic Understanding for Premier Education and Research (SUPER) Agreement between Boise State and INL. Alongside it, faculty hold parallel joint appointments with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), connecting Boise State students and researchers with national lab scientists on some of the nation's most pressing energy and security challenges.

For faculty holding joint appointments, that means literally living in two worlds. For Professor Sin Ming Loo, whose joint appointment focuses on building Idaho's cybersecurity workforce pipeline, that arrangement removes a common trade-off entirely.

"My joint appointment [with INL] supports my work by buying out my Boise State workload, which allows me to continue building the workforce pipeline," Loo said. "I don't have to split my efforts, I can focus on one thing at 150 percent."

Edoardo Serra, whose joint appointment with PNNL centers on artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, sees the two roles as inseparable.

"At Boise State, I can explore new research ideas, work closely with students, and develop new AI methodologies. At PNNL, those ideas can be connected with large-scale scientific and national-security problems, interdisciplinary teams, and computational resources," Serra added. "I don't really see the two roles as separate. The value comes from connecting them."

That dual role is the engine behind the partnership itself, ensuring that discoveries made at the bench in Idaho Falls or Richland, Washington, make their way into Boise State classrooms almost as fast as they're published.

Advancing the energy lifecycle

The SUPER Agreement anchors two major research thrusts. Together, they're advancing:

• Advanced materials and manufacturing for extreme environments - developing next-generation nuclear reactor components, radiation-resistant alloys, and quantum materials built to withstand the harshest conditions.
• Secure and resilient energy systems - using cyber-informed design and AI-driven solutions to protect the nation's critical energy infrastructure.

From generation and materials science to grid security, the college also collaborates with Idaho Power and PNNL, bringing together researchers, engineers, and industry leaders to accelerate innovation across the energy lifecycle, from how power is produced to how it's delivered and protected.

On the materials side, that work is deeply rooted in Idaho's own history. "Idaho has a deep, rooted history in the development and advancement of nuclear reactor innovations, including the first power-producing reactor in the world," Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering Associate Professor Brian Jaques said. "As we are in what experts call the 'Golden Era of Nuclear Power', Idaho continues to be the nation's leader in nuclear energy innovation and has brought four new reactors to criticality since June of this year, the first since 1977."

On the security side, Department of Computer Science Assistant Professor Max Taylor frames the challenge in terms every Idahoan can relate to. "How do you trust the systems you depend on in your daily life - cars, water treatment plants, building automation, etc. - when they are controlled by software that isn't necessarily trustworthy?" Taylor said.

Whether its materials that keep reactors running safely for decades or systems that shield the grid from cyberattacks, the throughline is the same: a more reliable, more secure power supply for the state.

Claire Xiong's lab in the Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSMSE). Photo by Priscilla Grover

Training Idaho's future workforce

These partnerships aren't just advancing research; they're reshaping what a Boise State education looks like. Joint-appointment faculty bring lab-grade tools, projects, and mentorship directly into Boise State's classrooms and labs.

For Jaques, the impact on students is immediate and lasting. "Many of my students expand their network, internship opportunities, and access to state-of-the-art equipment through INL collaborations," Jaques added. "These opportunities have led to employment for my students, as well as pursuing adjacent paths in technical fields related to our nation's energy security."

That pipeline runs through PNNL as well. Serra's doctoral student Bishal Lakha completed an internship at PNNL, working on an AI project that helped automate parts of the federal permitting process, research that resulted in a published paper and grew into a broader PNNL collaboration with national visibility. "Students have opportunities to work not only on academic exercises but on real problems alongside national laboratory researchers," Serra said. "In some cases, those relationships can become career pathways into national labs themselves."

For Professor Hui (Claire) Xiong, her students gain similar hands-on exposure, working directly in national lab facilities. "Students have a lot of exposure to the state-of-the-art facilities and expertise in national labs and have first-hand experience in conducting experiments there," Xiong said.

Across materials science, cybersecurity, grid security, and battery research alike, the through-line is the same: students gain access to research challenges and equipment typically reserved for career national lab scientists. Experiences that translate directly into Idaho's booming energy workforce after graduation.

An engineering student works in the lab. Photo by Priscilla Grover

Trailblazing together

As Boise State's research enterprise continues to grow, the College of Engineering sits at the center of that momentum, developing homegrown, workforce-ready graduates for Idaho's expanding STEM and energy industries. Faculty see the collaboration only deepening.

Xiong sees that growth continuing in battery research. "Success in this effort could attract investment, create more jobs, strengthen workforce development pipelines, and contribute to Idaho's economic growth," Xiong said.

Serra envisions the collaboration scaling well beyond individual projects. "I would like to see this evolve from successful individual collaborations into a much broader and more sustainable ecosystem connecting Boise State, national labs, and industry," Serra added. "For Idaho, success would mena that talented students don't have to leave the state to become connected to nationally important work. Boise State could increasingly serve as a bridge connecting Idaho's students and researchers with national labs and industry."

These partnerships, between Boise State, Idaho National Lab, Pacific Northwest National Lab, Idaho Power, and industry leaders across the state, reflect a shared priority: uniting faculty expertise with national lab and industry innovation.

It's a model that's positioning Idaho not just as a participant in America's energy future, but as its home.

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