COD offers new building systems automation program

GLEN ELLYN - The new Building Automation Systems Certificate program at College of DuPage will prepare students for a growing field that merges traditional heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration knowledge with computer and IT skills.

Recently approved by the Illinois Community College Board, the program is aimed at students who want entry-level positions as building controls technicians and current building stationary operating engineers who want to upgrade their skills and credentials.

The new certificate consists of 37 credits and includes six new courses: Heating Principles, Building Automation Systems Object-Oriented Programming (both I and II), Building Commissioning, Building Automation Systems Solutions and Building Automation Systems Integration with Open Protocols. Jim Janich, Professor of HVACR, and Bob Clark, Assistant Professor of HVACR, also worked on curriculum with the BEST (Building Efficiency for a Sustainable Tomorrow) Center, a national collaborative that promotes state-of-the-art building technician education in public two- and four-year colleges and universities.

Faculty, staff and students worked together to install the controls that will be used in the automation systems lab.

For more information, visit www.cod.edu/programs/hvacr, email clarkr307@cod.edu or deemanp@cod.edu, or call (630) 942-3068 or (630) 942-2548.