Department of

Aerospace Engineering


Outreach

    • Pennsylvania Wind for Schools

      Wind Energy at Penn State - WFS

    • The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory and DOE's Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program, recently selected Penn State for funding and technical support to develop educational programs to improve understanding of wind energy technology and its implementation using the successful Wind for Schools model.

      The Wind for Schools project, part of DOE’s Wind Powering America outreach and education initiative, supports wind energy education programs at universities as well as primary and secondary schools. By targeting students, the activities selected to be funded address major challenges for the wind energy industry as identified in DOE’s 20% Wind Energy by 2030 report: the need for a skilled workforce to support the expanded development and application of wind technologies. Launched in 2005, DOE’s Wind for Schools project now supports activities across 11 states.

      Applications for Pennsylvania's K-12 schools are projected to become available in Summer 2010. It is a goal of the Penn State program to work with three to five schools per year to conduct feasibility studies, help develop funding for, and ultimately install small wind turbines that will support curricular wind energy activities in the schools. University level wind energy education is also a focus of this program. Students in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and the College of Engineering will assist with the preliminary siting studies as well as the installation of the turbines as a part of existing courses. Also under development via a separate DOE grant is a graduate certificate in Wind Energy Engineering,

      A Wind Turbine Research and Development test facility is also under development at Penn State's Center for Sustainability. In addition to an existing 3 kW turbine currently being used for research purposes on campus, a new 2.4 kW Skystream turbine is also slated for installation in the coming months to support Wind for Schools activities. More information on the developing facility can be found here.


      More information coming soon, including an application for interested schools.

      Contacts:

       

       

       

      Susan Stewart
      Research Associate, Aerospace Engineering & Architectural Engineering
      814-863-0138sp;
      sstewart (at) psu.edu

      Kim McManus
      State Facilitator (WfS)
      Cambria County Extension Director
      814-472-7986
      ksm17 (at) psu.edu

      Leah Bug
      Education Support (WfS)
      Assistant Director,
      Center for Science and the Schools
      814-865-8397
      leahbug (at) psu.edu

       

      Dennis McLaughlin
      Director, Penn State Wind Turbine Research and Development Facility
      Professor, Aerospace Engineering
      814-865-2569
      dkm2 (at) psu.edu

      George Lesieutre
      Wind Energy Engineering Graduate Certificate
      Professor and Head, Aerospace Engineering
      814-863-0103
      gal4 (at) psu.edu

      		  

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