Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 245 4 40 YEARS OF COLLABORATION The partnership between Idaho National Laboratory and institutions of higher learning passed the 40-year mark in 2016. On July 1, 1976, University Place opened its doors on the north side of Idaho Falls. Originally called the Intermountain Science Experience Center, the project received significant help from the Atomic Energy Commission (which would become part of the U.S. Department of Energy a year later). This became the nucleus of an Idaho Falls campus for Idaho State University and the University of Idaho. The campus has since grown to several acres of classrooms and laboratories, where students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in science and engineering. Lab employees at all levels are encouraged to seek degrees, continue their studies and pursue professional licensing and certification. To help make this possible, INL covers tuition and fees from accredited institutions. TRENDING UPWARD Based on trends, INL anticipates seeing more participation in employee education. In FY 2016, there was an overall increase of nearly 20 percent in people seeking degrees (185), up slightly from FY 2015 (176) but almost double the number from FY 2014 (96). When working full-time and pursuing a degree, persistence is a key factor. After investing in an employee’s education, INL plans to reap the benefit by keeping employees at the lab. To date, the graduate retention rate for employee education is 100 percent, continuing the trend from FY 2015, when it was 94 percent, and bringing the five- year average to 88 percent. SATISFACTION LEVEL HIGHER Over the past two years, overall satisfaction among student employees has improved to 96 percent, with 95 percent of participants saying they would use the benefit again. Employee education opportunities were most highly utilized by employees with 10 or less years of experience at Employee EDUCATION the lab. There were 91 employees with less than five years of experience, and 74 employees with five to 10 years of experience. LEADING FIELDS Aligning programs with lab needs is critical for ensuring that the investment in continuing education is money well spent. The University Partnerships Directorate works closely with INL leadership to ensure that employees’ educational pursuits support the lab’s agenda and core capabilities. Lab managers identified project management, followed by computational science and engineering, as the top fields where training and education were needed. Power and energy systems, information systems management and information/ cybersecurity also ranked highly. Business administration and management Industrial technology Nuclear science and engineering Computer science Mechanical engineering 38 19 15 12 13 Of the people pursuing degrees, 38 were majoring in business administration and management. Another 59 were seeking degrees in the following fields: industrial technology (19), nuclear science and engineering (15), mechanical engineering (13) and computer science (12). Participants pursuing associate degrees Participants pursuing doctorates 81 77 24 3 Participants pursuing bachelor’s degrees Participants pursuing master’s degrees In FY2016, there was an overall increase of nearly 20 percent in people seeking degrees (185) up slightly from FY 2015 (176) but almost double the number from FY 2014 (96). In FY 2016, three participants sought associate’s degrees and 81 pursued bachelor’s degrees. As for graduate degrees, 77 were pursuing master’s degrees and 24 were working toward doctorates.