The Iowa Alliance for Wind Innovation and Novel Development (IAWIND) has awarded a $99,156 grant to the University of Iowa (UI) to develop a wind energy education program.
The grant was issued to David Bennett, professor of geography and principal investigator, to create an interdisciplinary undergraduate student certificate in wind energy that would involve 18 hours of coursework.
Bennett is joined by UI faculty members Marc Linderman, associate professor of geography; Marc Armstrong, professor and department chair of geography; Marian Muste, adjunct professor of civil and environmental engineering and research engineer at IIHR (a research unit of the College of Engineering) – Hydroscience & Engineering; Pablo Carrica, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering and associate faculty research engineer at IIHR; and Andrew Kusiak, professor and departmental executive officer of mechanical and industrial engineering.
The certificate program will involve two core courses and a set of elective courses designed to build expertise in one of two specialty areas: wind energy production or geographic information science for wind energy. Courses will be included from the UI departments of geography, civil and environmental engineering, and mechanical and industrial engineering, along with IIHR.
"To develop wind resources efficiently in Iowa, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms by which wind is generated, how it interacts with the landscape, how it is transformed into usable energy, managed along with other energy sources, and distributed and used by energy consumers," Bennett says.
