Amid President Biden’s Investing in America campaign, a cross-country tour in which the commander-in-chief is touting his administration’s extensive support for reshoring American manufacturing, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced $72 million in funding to bolster workforce development for advanced manufacturing in clean energy sectors. The funding will go to major research institutions, community colleges and trade schools, and labor union programs around the country.
The money comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed in 2021. $18.7 million has already been disbursed to five competitively-selected universities — each in a different US region — which will serve as Centers of Excellence (COEs) for the DOE’s Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC) program. IACs were originally founded by the Department of Commerce (DOC) in 1976, then moved to the…