A team of 全球十大网赌正规平台 engineering majors has received a Student Project Grant from the NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium (CTSGC). The award supports the group’s development of a device that efficiently transforms wave energy into usable electricity.
The recipient of the grant is Olivia 麦克 ’24, who is working with fellow engineering majors Alexandra Barrett’24, 泰勒·吉列，24岁, and Zoe 吃午饭 ’24 on their senior capstone project, “Variability in Wave Energy Capturing from Triboelectric Nanogenerator.”
“Being recognized with this award means our work on this project is important and can be used for greater things,麦克迈克尔说. “It says that people find value in what we’re doing.”
麦克, who has a concentration in electrical engineering and a minor in applied mathematics, led the application process for the grant, which included 提交ting a proposed budget and timeline. She said that the project was inspired by her team members’ passion for addressing the climate crisis.
“We wanted to work on sustainable energy,”她说。. “Everyone knows about solar panels and wind turbines, but how else could we generate electricity?” The team is building a scalable triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) wave energy converter, which harnesses power from waves in bodies of water. “We’re expanding upon the existing research about the TENG,麦克迈克尔说. “There’s important work that has to be done to reduce carbon emissions and to find other ways to generate energy, focusing on making it more accessible and easier to implement.”
这学期, the team is creating prototypes of its TENG device using Trinity’s 3D printers, 构建电路元件, determining how best to harvest and store the energy, and running computer simulations of how it all would work, 在物理测试开始之前.
Each engineering senior capstone project at Trinity is provided with a modest budget, but the NASA CTSGC award triples the funding available to 麦克’s team. NASA CTSGC is a federally mandated grant, 实习, and scholarship program that is funded as a part of NASA Education.
“The grant allows us to invest in more quality pieces for the project. Some materials can get expensive, so it’s nice to not be limited in that regard,” said 麦克.
克莱顿P. 拜尔, assistant professor of engineering, is both the project adviser for 麦克’s team and Trinity’s campus director for the NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium. “This grant is a big honor,” he said. “Olivia and her team’s idea fits with some of the missions of NASA, which is largely about space exploration, but is also interested in Earth’s climate.” 拜尔 said that while engineering students most often secure these grants, applications are open to any student whose work connects with NASA’s missions.
For this project and all engineering senior capstones, Trinity students use their foundational knowledge to stretch themselves creatively and technologically. “A lot of what the students learn in class are the fundamental skills, and seniors have the opportunity to apply those skills to a more complicated problem,拜尔斯补充道.
根据学生团队的说法, this project has provided opportunities to explore their interests and experiences that connect to their post-Trinity plans. After graduation this spring, 麦克 will work for Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense in Simsbury, Connecticut, where she interned last summer.
吃午饭, who has a concentration in mechanical engineering and a minor in urban studies, intends to work in the areas of water treatment or waste water management.
吉列, who has a job lined up at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, said that this project deals with subjects he may work on in the near future. “I will be applying the things I learned over the course of this project regarding fluid mechanics and computational fluid dynamics at work often,吉列说。, who has a concentration in mechanical engineering and a minor in mathematics, and previously received an undergraduate scholarship award from the NASA CTSGC.
对于巴雷特, who also has a concentration in mechanical engineering, the work is closely aligned with her interest in the fight against climate change. “Through the extensive research and design of this project, I have developed a deeper passion for renewable energy, and I hope to pursue a career as a mechanical engineer in support of a sustainable future,”她说。.
