Multidisciplinary Game-Based Approach for Generating Student Enthusiasm for Addressing Critical Infrastructure Challenges

Building upon experiences from past course offering, ¹ several universities across the United States (U.S) have incorporated a critical infrastructure educational game platform as a unifying platform to integrate different disciplines to a common goal. The critical infrastructure backbones of the world provide the delivery mechanisms for energy and other utilities that provide the lifestyle we have come to expect in our society. As these critical infrastructure systems have evolved, the complexity of their integration has generated numerous challenges as a side effect of increased automation that are more pronounced as the infrastructure ages. Although still a modern technological wonder, the power grid needs a workforce that understands the complex, interdependent facets of the current grid as it evolves to a smarter grid and is pushed closer to its limits through improvements in automated measurement and control. The next generation of technology developers and operators will require an interdisciplinary understanding to reliably and securely integrate advanced communication and control technologies into the infrastructure and create systems to address the new demands of increased renewable and distributed generation, complex markets, and resilience to damaging storms and cyber attacks. Educational institutions need to accept the challenge of weaving the great diversity of contributing disciplines into the common fabric which allows specialties to effectively work together.