Wildcat Wind Power takes third at national DOE Collegiate Wind Competition
Monday, June 10, 2024
Members of the 2024 Wildcat Wind Power pose with their awards after taking third at the 2024 Collegiate Wind Competition. From left to right, back row: Sidney Wagner, Jacob Lowe and Cameron Million. Middle row: Nick Saia, Kent Deterding, Jakob Long, Joseph Lilley and advisor Don Gruenbacher. Front row: Jose Rodriguez-Millan, Israel Barraza, Rebecca Semple, Macie Sexten and David Pierson. | Download this photo.
MANHATTAN — Kansas State University's Wildcat Wind Power team took third place at the 2024 Collegiate Wind Competition, a U.S. Department of Energy event held in Minneapolis in May.
The K-State team spent the entire 2023-2024 academic year designing, building and testing their model wind turbines before traveling to the competition to battle 11 other schools by presenting and testing their models in a wind tunnel at the event. The K-State team finished with a total score of 1,042.3, taking third behind Cal Maritime Academy with a score of 1,083.1 and the University of Colorado with a score of 1,055.7. Wildcat Wind Power entered the event as the two-time defending champions.
"Overall, I am very proud of the team," said Israel Barraza, junior in civil engineering and Wildcat Wind Power team president, Olathe. "We spent countless hours designing parts, analyzing finances and planning events. It was a tight competition all the way around, and we performed well in each component."
The competition tasked the team with designing a model turbine able to produce as much power as possible within a given wind speed while ensuring that it operates safely up to 21 meters per second. The competition also included planning a theoretical wind farm — this year in the Great Lakes region — that incorporated other forms of energy management. Finally, the team was given a score on how well it connected through the community with outreach to teach the benefits of wind energy, which included hosting high school programs on the K-State campus. K-State finished in second place among the 12 teams in the turbine testing category while taking third place for its design.
Don Gruenbacher, associate professor and head of the Mike Wiegers Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, serves as advisor to the team.
Members of Wildcat Wind Power include:
Sidney Wagner, senior in electrical engineering, Atchison; Cameron Million, junior in electrical engineering, and Jose Rodriguez-Millan, senior in mechanical engineering, both from Dodge City; Kent Deterding, senior in electrical engineering, Kansas City; Joseph Lilley, junior in electrical engineering, Leawood; Israel Barraza, senior in civil engineering, Jakob Long, senior in construction science management, and Nick Saia, senior in civil engineering, all from Olathe; Rebecca Semple, senior in mechanical engineering, Overland Park; and David Pierson, senior in electrical engineering, Sabetha.
From out of state: Jacob Lowe, spring 2024 graduate in mechanical engineering, Firestone, Colorado; and Macie Sexten, senior in electrical engineering, Columbia, Missouri.
