KPC teams garner silver and bronze at national NSF troubleshooting competition

KPC teams finished second and third in the 2016 National Troubleshooting Competition, April 22-23 at Lone Star College in Kingwood, Texas. The team from the Anchorage Extension Site earned second place, while the Kenai River Campus team finished third.

A UAF Community & Technical College team finished fourth, giving UA squads three of the top four places. Southcentral Louisiana Tech finished first in the eight-team national competition.

Last month, 25 teams competed for the right to go to nationals, which were sponsored by Process Troubleshooting Skills in Energy (PTSE). Three-person teams from AES and KRC advanced from that qualifying round.

An AES team coached by Rick Adams, AES assistant professor of process technology, took first place in 2012.  A UAF-CTC team coached by UAF's Bob Hook, UAF assistant professor of process technology, took first place in 2013. There were no competitions in 2014 or 2015.

Jeff Laube, KRC assistant professor of process technology, coached the KRC team, known as the Kenai Kings consisting of Andrew Davis, Brett Meyer and team captain Joshua Wolf.

Adams once again coached the AES team, known as Team 907 comprised of Kadeen Sanford, Philip Valenta and team captain T.J. Krier.

The National Troubleshooting Competition represents a culmination of skills by advanced students in process technology programs from across the country that have won at the qualifying round.

"At the national troubleshooting competition there is a lot of talent," Laube said after the event. "We are proud of the Alaska teams."

The event is supported in part by grant funding from the National Science Foundation/Advanced Technological Education to the Process Troubleshooting Skills in Energy Consortium. For more information on the competition, go to the PTSE website  or the PTSE Facebook page.

Story by Jeff Laube, assistant professor of process technology, Kenai River Campus.

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