A blog posting in the Seattle Times last week provides a good opportunity to introduce a video demo for all those interested in the topic of finding new ways to encourage today’s students to enter utility industry careers.
Reporter Brier Dudley’s blog entry, “College road trip for Microsoft’s research chief,” describes how our Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie has been hitting the road, sharing various technology demonstrations at colleges and universities around the world. He’s demonstrating the future of technology and its applications to tomorrow’s challenges – the very challenges that today’s student’s will be facing as they advance through their career.
In one presentation, Craig demonstrates how people will use new computerized work spaces to display and understand the actions of a single wind turbine in a windmill fleet. The effective operation of the windmills within a supporting fleet of carbon producing generators will depend on the advanced computational capabilities of information technology. 
To see our view of this future dynamic, check out the video titled “Mundie shares how new technology will help solve world problems,” to view his depiction of how tomorrow’s utility information worker will interact, interpret and act upon the information that will drive energy production.
For those young people thinking about their future in the energy industry, this one video might encourage their pursuit of this career path. It might also help utility companies solve the imminent Brain Drain that’s expected as aging utility workers retire, while simultaneously improving operational efficiency of new energy resources. It’s a powerful demonstration of Microsoft’s concern for the needs of the utility industry going forward. – Jon C. Arnold
