An expanding clean and renewable energy program at the University of Dayton is drawing students from around the world.

Ahmad Murtaza Ershad said he found the program’s unique focus on engineering new energy systems and improving old ones has given him skills he will take back to his native Afghanistan.

Ershad is among a growing number of students in the program, which has swelled to three times the university’s expectations for enrollment since it was launched in 2009. Among its 50 students, the program has three Fulbright scholars — a record for one program at UD. Fulbright scholars are international students chosen for their academic merits and leadership potential. Ershad is one of those scholars.

“One of the greatest strengths of this program is our students are in demand all over,” said professor Kelly Kissock.

By one estimate, as many as 40 million Americans could be working in renewable energy and energy efficiency by 2030, according to a report, “Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency: Economic Drivers for the 21st Century.”

Students see great potential in the energy fields, such as solar, wind and geothermal, said Jim Menart, director of Wright State University’s renewable and clean energy master’s degree program.

“Students are worried about their energy future and they see this as a way to make it more secure,” Menart said. “They feel very passionate about the environment. They’re seeing a new technology out there, a new burgeoning field that they want to get in on.”

Through a collaboration, students enrolled at UD and Wright State can take courses at both universities, and together the schools have one of the largest offerings in the field, Menart said. Central State University faculty also teach courses at Wright State in hydropower and clean coal; and the Air Force Institute of Technology offers a course in nuclear engineering.

Kisscok said Fulbright scholars and other international students enrolled in UD’s program help broaden students’ knowledge of the global nature of the energy problem.

Adam Adiwinata, a Fulbright scholar from Indonesia, said his country has an “abundance of renewable energy resources.”

“Yet we have not been able to fulfill our energy needs,” the 24-year-old said. “We still depend on fossil fuels. One city is so much developed, but there are other places in Indonesia that barely have electricity.”

The master’s degree program is the first and only at UD to have three Fulbright scholars enrolled at once, according to UD Provost Joe Saliba.