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By Jonathan Heeter

Jay Belknap (B.S. ’26) spent his career learning to build and maintain a power grid for farms and sawmills. Now, the upcoming ��ɫ��Ƶ graduate is figuring out how to run data centers on it. 

As an associate engineer at Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative (MEC), a member-owned nonprofit utility serving roughly 30,000 customers across rural southern Virginia, Jay sits at the intersection of old infrastructure and explosive new demand. 

Data centers are migrating south from Northern Virginia along the I-95 and I-85 corridors, chasing cheaper land, fiber access and available water for cooling. They're landing in places like Mecklenburg County, and the grid is quickly adapting for them. 

“Before the data centers, we were a 100-megawatt system,” said Jay, who will graduate with a major in electrical engineering technology in May. “Now each data center building is 48 megawatts or more. Two buildings alone can double your whole system load.”

On any given day, he might be reviewing data center build progress, performing fault calculations for arc-flash studies, reviewing power quality devices for voltage irregularities, or submitting proposed substation requests to transmission operators.

When a storm rolls through, everything else stops. "It's all hands on deck until we safely restore power to all our members," he says. "It's just an amazing time to be in the electric industry. You're never bored."

That adaptability was forged early. Jay joined the Navy at 17, straight out of a rural community and was accepted into the Naval Nuclear Power School. He served five years, including aboard the USS Eisenhower aircraft carrier, a stretch that straddled the September 11 attacks. The work taught him how high-stakes systems fail and recover. After his service, he used the GI Bill™ at Tidewater Community College and began building toward a degree. His progress, however, stalled when federal government budget cuts in 2012 and 2013 led to him losing his defense contracting job and his house in the Kempsville borough of Virginia Beach. He had to make a career pivot.

“I thought energy should always be in high demand,” he said. “So that career path made sense to me.”

Jay’s father also had a foot in the energy industry. He is a certified arborist for the Accomack and Northampton Electric Cooperative (ANEC) in Virginia.

So Jay moved two hours west to Mecklenburg Electric, where he's spent the past 13 years mastering control system architecture, substation operations, radio infrastructure, and automated metering. He shadowed veteran engineers until retirements created space for him to grow into his current role.

Jay’s career trajectory drove him back to school when his supervisor nudged him to finish his  through ��ɫ��ƵGlobal and pursue his Professional Engineer (PE) license, which demonstrates expertise and is a legal requirement for some roles in the industry. Jay felt a connection to the University from his time working in the Hampton Roads area and serving at Naval Station Norfolk. He excelled from the start and was awarded the University’s 2025–26 Electrical Engineering Technology Faculty Award.

“(Jay) brings a level of professionalism to the classroom that reflects his extensive real-world experience, while simultaneously demonstrating the humility and eagerness of a lifelong learner,” said Professor Adel El-Shahat, Ph.D., director of the Electric Machinery and Power Systems Lab. 

Jay found studying while working full-time has been clarifying rather than overwhelming. The program has married theory with practice and is supported by “world-class faculty.” 

“I'm kind of doing life backward,” said Jay, who credited his wife, Jacqueline, faculty, classmates and colleagues with supporting his journey, “I started out learning hands-on in the field. But the program has been very complementary. I'm learning theory that I can use immediately." 

Jay said he wants to pursue a master's in business administration this fall after completing his bachelor’s program. But his PE license is next on the horizon, and it carries a deep meaning. 

During Mecklenburg's first data center build, Jay began working alongside Layne Jordan, a consultant with Patterson & Dewar Engineers. Jay called Jordan an “old-school pen and paper engineer” and an inspiration. More than once, Jay found himself sitting in a substation control house, laptop open for an online class, shortly after listening to Jordan speak about power system protection design. 

“He inspired me to complete my degree and attain licensure,” Jay said of Jordan, who died in March 2025. “Personally, my licensure will be in honor of Layne's memory.”