Marcellus Shale Education & Training Center (MSETC)

Marcellus Shale Education & Training Center (MSETC) is a collaboration between Pennsylvania College of Technology and Penn State Extension to provide a wide variety of resources to the community and the oil-and-gas industry.

Central operations are located in the Center for Business & Workforce Development on the main campus of Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport. Additional facilities utilized for specific needs include Penn State Extension offices, Penn College's North Campus in Wellsboro, and various Penn State campus locations.

Sample Programs and Capabilities

• Workforce needs assessment
• New technology development
• Access to student interns and graduates
• Research
• Advisory boards
• Customized training
• On-site training
• Industry-specific training
• Facility for meetings/events including videoconferencing capabilities

Background

With recent global pressures on energy, as well as key advances in new technology, the domestic natural gas market has re-emerged in locations that have not historically played a part in the recovery of this natural resource. Techniques such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (hydro-fracing) have allowed gas to be unlocked from the pores of organic shale; some of which was buried approximately 400 million years ago and, until recently, not thought of as a viable, sustainable source of energy. The Marcellus Shale play is of particular interest to the industry because of the potential size of the formation, as well as its close proximity to the major population centers of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. As this new resource for energy develops, there will be many challenges that need to be addressed, by both the communities and the oil and gas industry partners. The MSETC will act as a central resource to help overcome many of these challenges and allow this natural resource and the regional communities to be developed in conjunction with each other.