The Partnership for Excellence in Research and Learning (PERL) program was formalized at Citizens Energy Group in 2016 to provide opportunities for college students to work on real-world projects and encourage them to seek employment opportunities in Indiana and the utility industry upon graduation.
Citizens has established partnerships with seven universities and has engaged with more than 2,700 students since the program’s inception.
The PERL team recently created an idea-submission portal to allow employees across the company to suggest projects to offer to area college students.
The goal of this new tool is to have an ongoing list of ideas so that when professors reach out in search of capstone projects for their students, members of the PERL team can offer a project that correlates to a specific course curriculum.
“With a list of ideas, the PERL team will be able to continue offering professional development opportunities to students interested in working in the utility industry,” said Joe Nagy, Engineer II and PERL team leader, “while simultaneously providing Citizens with an avenue to complete unique projects.”
Employees with project suggestions should visit the PERL iTrust site and click on “Idea Generation.” From there, click on the blue “+ New” button on the top left and fill out the required information.
Project ideas should be complex enough to challenge students but limited in scope due to the length of the course. A group of three to five students typically spends about eight hours per week on projects, which can extend for either one semester (about four months) or two semesters (about eight months). While most PERL projects have been engineering-related, they do not have to be.
A project leader from Citizens should be recommended to act as a resource and subject-matter expert for the students as they work on the project. When completing the form, you should choose Unassigned from the “Assigned To” field, as the PERL team will help determine which institution and course the project will best suit.
If you have questions about the idea-submission portal or potential projects, reach out to Joe Nagy.
A PERL team from the University of Indianapolis designed the prototype for Citizens Energy Group's H2O to Go mobile water source a few years ago. Learn more at https://citizensenergygroup.com/My-Home/Conserve-Save/H2O-to-Go.
