PITTSBURGH, Dec. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --  Westinghouse Electric Company and the University of North Carolina (UNC) Charlotte have jointly announced a Westinghouse donation of equipment and services valued over $3 million in support for the university's Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC).

Through its wholly owned subsidiary PaR Nuclear, Westinghouse has donated two 30-ton industrial cranes; a training course for crane design; training equipment for the handling of nuclear fuel; a training course for fuel-handling equipment design; training equipment and classes related to the nuclear instrumentation and control business; and an introductory welding course along with use of the Westinghouse Rock Hill welding test shop.

"This kind of support is critical to the success of this program, which we foresee as a model for business and education cooperation in the energy sphere," said UNC Charlotte Chancellor Philip L. Dubois. "EPIC will match the needs of energy companies with graduates who have the comprehensive skill sets needed to compete in the 21st century."

Jimmy Morgan, Westinghouse vice president of Installation and Modification Services and EPIC board member, said of the donation, "Good education in the nuclear industry requires access to high-capital-value activities, and it requires access to experienced engineers who are ready to transfer their skills. By providing equipment and training services to EPIC, we are making a contribution to the future of the global energy industry."

EPIC was formed in response to the need from industry to supply highly trained engineers qualified to meet the demands of the energy industry through traditional and continuing education, and increasing capacity and support for applied research.

"Westinghouse recognizes that industry needs to be a partner not just in the funding of higher education, but in the design of educational programming to meet the evolving needs the energy industry," said Nick Liparulo, vice president of Westinghouse Nuclear Services.

The training equipment has already been shipped and installed at the EPIC facility on the UNC Charlotte campus, and related courses are scheduled to begin in the fall of 2012.

"EPIC has the mission to enhance the available technical and business workforce, advance energy technology, and facilitate strategic industry-university collaboration for the global energy industry," said Dr. Johan Enslin, director of EPIC and the Duke Energy Distinguished Chair in Power Engineering Systems. "Contributions like this enable us to supply graduates who understand the industry and the associated work."

The Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC) at UNC Charlotte is a collaborative industry/education effort to produce the nation's most qualified energy engineering workforce and be a partner in technology research for the global energy industry. This cross-discipline initiative in the William States Lee College of Engineering at UNC Charlotte includes Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Technology.  Find EPIC at:  http://epic.uncc.edu.

Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation (TKY: 6502), is the world's pioneering nuclear energy company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world's first pressurized water reactor in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, including 60 percent of those in the United States.

SOURCE Westinghouse Electric Company