Meet Vaughan Woodruff – Instructor Spotlight

Behind every HeatSpring course is an exceptional instructor. Industry veterans who bring hands-on experience, real enthusiasm, and a genuine investment in student success. Online learning has a way of keeping those educators at arm’s length, even when their impact is anything but distant.

The Instructor Spotlight series changes that. These features introduce the professionals who power HeatSpring’s mission, giving learners a closer look at the people shaping the next generation of clean energy careers.

Say hello to Vaughan Woodruff!

Courses on HeatSpring: Owning the Customer Interconnection Experience, How We Got Here: A (RIveting!) History of DER Interconnection in the U.S., and Integrating Solar and Hydronic Heating

Enrollments on Vaughan’s courses: 817

What was your first job in the industry?

My first solar job was as a solar thermal installer for Liquid Solar Solutions in Bozeman, MT. We installed solar water heaters and combisystems for residential and commercial clients. The work wasn’t glamorous — it required a lot of sweating copper in basements and attics and moving around heavy equipment — but it was fulfilling and got me hooked on a career in renewable energy. 

How many years have you been in the industry?

This is my 20th year in solar.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten (or advice you’d give your younger self)?

Someone once told me that all of the answers we need are planted inside us when we’re born. The challenge is to hear them. I’ve found that time by myself in wilderness usually helps.

What’s a quote you think about often?

One of my favorite quotes is Dr. King’s: “The true measure of a man is not where he stands during times of comfort and convenience, but where he stands during times of challenge and controversy.” That said, the quotes I think about most often are typically inane quotes from movies like Dumb & Dumber or Idiocracy.

What are your hobbies?

Hiking, camping, backpacking, and basketball. I used to play a lot more, now I’m mostly coaching, carting my kids to travel games, and watching the Celtics.

What’s a fun fact about you that your students don’t know?

I used to teach middle school. I loved working with kids that age and also recognized how tough an experience it is. I told myself once my kids were that age, I’d get them the hell out of middle school. I was able to with my now 14-year-old. When he was in 7th grade, I took him out of school for a 7-week trip out west that included backpacking trips in California, Utah, and Arizona. I’m planning a similar trip in a couple of years for my younger son.

What’s a tradition or habit you’re proud of?

My connection with the land in Maine is dear to me. My Mom’s family has been in the area for over 200 years, and I feel at home in the forest, lakes, and mountains of this lovely place.

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

If it’s day after day after day, give me variations of beans and rice. It’s not a sexy choice, but it’s the right answer — and probably explains why my kids once called me Cracklin’ Oat Bran.

Anything else you think would be fun to share?

My career in solar seems almost fated. I was in first grade when Reagan was elected, and my Mom has an old “complete the drawing” activity that featured a dragon. I drew in a TV with a solar panel powered by the dragon’s fire. When I moved back to Maine and was renovating my grandfather’s former veterinarian office for my own office, I came across an old USDA pamphlet that had fallen behind a boxed-in wash tub. The title: Solar Heating for Milking Parlors.