“We posted a job for a Chemical Engineer and only got a handful of responses,” explained Jamie Beard from FastCAP Systems.  “We figured if that talent isn’t out there, we’re going to grow it from within.”  That future talent took the shape of 20 students from Boston Public Schools this past Wednesday, who toured through a number of Innovation District Green and Clean Tech companies.

This ‘exposure’ tour for students from Boston Green Academy, Boston Latin School, and Boston Latin Academy kicked off at GreenTown Labs.  Students got the opportunity to talk with young entrepreneurs from Coincident, Promethean Power and others.  From the scrappy start-up prototype floor at GreenTown, the tour moved across the Innovation District into the Marine Industrial Park.

FastCAP Systems featured mechanical, design, and chemical engineers, who explained how and why they do what they do.  At one station students passed around a small postage stamp sized square containing ‘a billion-quadrillion’ nano-tubes, while a chemical engineer and FastCAP CEO Riccardo Signorelli explained the full range of amazing applications for nano-technology (including making your socks stink less).

The day concluded with a visit to SatCon – where an engineer explained solar inverters and students checked out the assembly floor.  The range of companies visited – both in size and products – showcased not only the exponentially expanding green jobs sector but the growing cluster of Green and Clean Tech here in Boston.  In a few years, these students could be the engineers launching their own start-ups or making breakthroughs at FastCAP and SatCon.

(Special thanks to Jamie Beard of FastCAP for organizing the program and lending her photography skills.)