The university is one of 13 teams taking on the U.S. Department of Energy’s challenge, which helps prepare college students for jobs in the clean energy economy.
Texas Tech University is one of 13 institutions with a team virtually competing in the U.S. Department of Energy's Collegiate Wind Competition, which runs June 2-11. The competition helps prepare college students for jobs in the clean energy economy by providing hands-on, real-world wind energy technology and project development experience.
“Texas Tech's Collegiate Wind Team, Techsan Wind, is excited to be a part of the 2021 Collegiate Wind Competition,” said Matt Saldaña, the team's adviser and an instructor of wind energy. “Techsan Wind also will compete in the 2022 Collegiate Wind Competition. We look forward to improving on our past performances as well as being a part of such a prestigious competition.”
This is the fourth time the Techsan Wind team has participated in the competition. Many of Techsan Wind's team members are enrolled in Texas Tech's Bachelor of Science in Wind Energy program, which is offered through the College of Arts & Sciences.
While classroom experiences are valuable to their future job prospects, having the opportunity to design, develop and build a wind turbine and wind farm allows the team to apply classroom experiences to a real-world project. Participating in the competition also allows the team members a chance to connect with future colleagues and learn from some of the brightest minds in the wind energy industry.
This year, the Techsan Wind team is participating in the live Connection Creation Contest. The contest has teams partner with wind industry professionals, raise awareness of wind energy in their local community and work with local media to promote the team's accomplishments.
The Techsan Wind team's primary goal is to spread more information about wind energy into the larger Lubbock and Texas Tech community. The team looks to generate excitement in K-12 classrooms as well as create a robust recruiting network for future Techsan Wind team members on Texas Tech's campus. Its secondary goals include recruiting new wind energy majors/minors and developing partnerships with various on-campus groups.
The other universities participating in the competition are Brigham Young University, California State University Maritime Academy, California Polytechnic State University, Johns Hopkins University, James Madison University, Kansas State University, Northern Arizona University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Maryland, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Virginia Tech University and Washington State University-Everett.
Click here for more information on the Collegiate Wind Competition.
