EPCE Learner Success Story: Dustin Mannifield

Dustin Mannifield

“You either suffer the sacrifices and efforts it takes to achieve your goals, or you suffer the regret for the rest of your life.  Pick the one you know is right.”  Dustin Mannifield recalls this quote he learned in the U.S. Marine Corps shortly after earning the title and occupational specialty of recon marine—and has continually applied that line of thinking to his professional life and career aspirations. Dustin noted he has a goal of becoming a licensed master electrician and professional engineer (PE) in the state of Texas, where he lives with his wife, daughter, and son.

Dustin began as a technician in the maintenance department at one electric cooperative, but his motivation and hard work, including pursuing additional education, led to multiple work promotions.  He noted: “I was eager to pursue my goal of becoming a PE, which cannot happen without an ABET-accredited engineering degree, so I enrolled in Excelsior University’s online bachelor’s in electrical engineering technology program,” he said.  

Not only was Dustin pursuing his bachelor’s degree during this time, he was also busy studying for required exams to become a master electrician and engineer in training (EIT). He graduated in August of 2021 summa cum laude and passed his exam to become a master electrician the same month.  He also passed the NCEES FE exam to earn his EIT certification.  

Dustin credits the knowledge he gained at Excelsior to help prepare him for the NCEES exams, saying: “If there are any electricians out there that want to become a licensed engineer, the coursework from this bachelor’s degree will cover nearly every aspect of what is tested on the NCEES FE and PE exams.  I was intimidated to take both tests, but both times before I finished, I knew in my head I was going to pass because of the class work I had completed at Excelsior.”

In March of 2024, Dustin accepted the position of system protection engineer at Pedernales Electric Cooperative, where he is responsible for all aspects of protection and controls for transmission lines, transmission substations, capacitor banks, distribution stations, power transformers, and distribution feeders.  

He still wasn’t done with furthering his education either. “I was enrolled in a different university’s online graduate electrical engineering program, but they did not offer any power systems courses online, so I started looking into other programs.  I found WPI’s online graduate programs through the EPCE website and saw WPI offered what I wanted in a graduate degree and the classes would actually help me as an engineer in the power systems career field,” he said.

He is scheduled to graduate with his master’s in power systems engineering in May of this year, but has already seen a benefit to the knowledge he has gained, noting: “I’ve had the opportunity to get hands on engineering design experience at my job while at the same time having my online courses cover the same topics as what I’m doing at work.  I believe WPI has some of the best online power system engineering courses available anywhere”

As for his dream of becoming a professional engineer, he’s almost there.  He is close to completing the required four years of experience needed and will be submitting his application to the Texas Board in August of 2025.  However, Dustin also sees the value of pursuing something that interests him: “I’ve been genuinely interested in electrical power systems and controls since I first became an Apprentice Electrician in 2015, and I find it fascinating.  For me, this experience is also proof that if you love the work you do, it won’t feel as much like work; the same holds true for school.”