Students will learn how to plan and implement transmission and distribution projects from industry leaders. From costing a project to dealing with land right-of-ways, students will develop the skills necessary for transmission and distribution work.

Each Gonzaga T&D course is offered over eight, week-long modules that include recorded presentations, readings, homework assignments, and discussion board, all developed and taught by industry experts.

Power related courses at four-year university engineering programs are typically offered in the electrical engineering area and can be characterized as an extension of electric circuit modeling.  Course topics generally include power systems analysis, analysis of faulted power systems, machine theory, and high voltage engineering.  All rely heavily on classic circuit theory modeling to develop electrical engineering concepts applicable to generation, transmission, and distribution systems.  At this time virtually no program in the country offers a mixture of engineering practicum (industry practice) along with conventional academic instruction at either undergraduate or graduate level.

To fill this void, several consultants and institutions offer short training seminars to provide exposure on focused topics related to the energy sector. Such programs are generally offered as three to five day compressed courses that do not provide adequate time for homework assignments, testing, or project exercises to help students fully understand the subject matter under consideration.

To overcome these known drawbacks the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Gonzaga University has developed a multi-disciplined Transmission and Distribution (T&D) Engineering program. Strategically designed to train and educate engineers that are fully capable of designing and constructing the nation's future electrical power grid, the program blends academic rigor with engineering practicum in its courses.  Students may take individual courses that are applicable to their careers, a series of five, three-credit hour courses that form the basis of a T&D Certificate or apply for the Master of Engineering in T&D Engineering 36 credit degree program. Each course incorporates aspects of civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering disciplines typically used in modern electrical grid design.

Each Gonzaga T&D module is generally opened on Monday and students have until the following Sunday to complete their assignments.

The courses are, therefore, appropriate for graduate engineers and senior engineering undergraduates with an interest in designing the power transmission grid of the future. With leading industry experts responsible for both developing course content and actual course delivery, the program has a potential of playing a leading role in training our next generation of power industry engineers.

Course Descriptions:

• TADP 540 Transmission Line Design - Introduction
• TADP 541 Electrical Distribution System Design
• TADP 542 Substation Design
• TADP 543 Electrical Grid Operations
• TADP 544 Project Development and Construction Methods
• TADP 545 System Protection
• TADP 547 Underground System Design
• TADP 548 Electrical Aspects of Transmission Line Design
• TADP 553 System Automation
• TADP 556 Engineering Leadership
• TADP 640 Transmission Line Design - Advanced
• TADP 641 Power System Analysis