Schweitzer Drive

Between 2013-2021, the number of unfilled cybersecurity jobs jumped 350 percent. Join Dave Whitehead as he talks with Dr. Jim Alves-Foss, director of the University of Idaho Center for Secure and Dependable Systems, about how UI is preparing students to fill those roles and solve the world's toughest cybersecurity challenges.

Power system telecommunication networks have very different needs than those driving internet and broadband technology. Can you imagine a utility having to wait to learn about a fault while their network buffered? In this episode, Dave Whitehead talks with communications experts Ken Fodero and Paul Robertson about the history of power system communications and why reliable, high-speed, deterministic communication networks are critical to keeping the lights on.

Revered basketball coach John Wooden once said, "A good coach can change a game. A great coach can change a life." In this episode, guest host David Costello talks with human performance expert and coach James Merlo about how human factors engineering can help utilities, organizations, and individuals to not only improve efficiency and reliability, but also greatly reduce the frequency and severity of errors.

Oscillations on the electric power system are normal, but sometimes they get out of sync and can wreak havoc, potentially causing a blackout. In this episode, Dave Whitehead sits down with power system expert and professor Dr. Mani Venkatasubramanian to talk about how we can monitor and manage oscillations to keep power flowing—even across borders.

Industrial control systems (ICSs) across industries have experienced increased security risk in the last decade, and those within the electric power system are no exception. In this episode, Dave Whitehead talks with ICS cybersecurity expert Dale Peterson about today's threat landscape and where ICS asset owners should focus their efforts to address this risk.

It's an exciting time to work in the electric power industry. The rapid pace of innovation is creating both opportunities and challenges. In this episode, Dave Whitehead talks with Dr. Hector Altuve, a 40+ year industry veteran who has worked across continents in both academia and business, about the role the industry plays in filling the gap between traditional education that instills fundamentals—the things that don't rust—and specialized training that keeps pace with the latest technologies.

The electric power grid is the largest man-made machine ever created. It's vast, complex, and essential to modern life. And, as it continues to serve more people and industries and accommodate new challenges, it will require a steady pipeline of smart, well-educated people to invent, design, build, operate, and secure the power systems of the future. In this episode, I talk with educator John Cassleman, who manages SEL's K-12 Education Outreach program, about how we can get more kids excited about science, technology, engineering, and math—and maybe even inspire the next Thomas Edisons, Nikola Teslas, and Ed Schweitzers.

The electric power industry is changing and so are the skills and expertise needed to keep the power flowing around the world. At the same time, we're hearing about worker shortages in many fields. In this episode, Dave Whitehead talks with human resources expert Stacey Doty about the challenges and opportunities of recruiting and hiring for technical roles.

As communities grow, the distribution systems bringing power into neighborhoods are becoming more complex. Utilities are increasingly focused on efficiently managing this complexity while solving new challenges—like the addition of distributed energy sources, including microgrids, rooftop solar, and battery storage. In this episode, Dave Whitehead talks with distribution system expert John Thorne about the innovative ways he and the team at Alabama Power are dramatically reducing the number of customers experiencing power outages.

The concept of zero trust has been gaining momentum. In fact, the Biden Administration recently released a new strategy for federal agencies that will move the government toward a "zero trust" security model in the next two years. In this episode, Dave Whitehead explores the idea of trust, particularly as it applies to industrial control system cybersecurity, with SEL VP of Infrastructure Defense Nicholas Seeley.