Wind Team Advances to Nationals; Management Program Wins Honors

The University of Texas at Dallas student Wind Energy Club advanced to the final round of the U.S. Department of Energy's 2024 Collegiate Wind Competition with its new designs for a turbine and hypothetical offshore wind farm.

The 30-member team, known as Comet Wind, will present its small-scale wind turbine prototype at the American Clean Power Association's CLEANPOWER Conference and Exhibition on May 6-9 in Minneapolis. Comet Wind is one of 12 teams nationally, including three from Texas, to be selected to compete in the final round.

The competition requires students to design, analyze, fabricate and test a small-scale wind turbine prototype and demonstrate the feasibility of a hypothetical offshore wind farm in the U.S. Great Lakes, including an analysis of wind conditions, transmission, construction, market conditions and economic policies. The team also will present its efforts in educational outreach, including activities with local DFW schools, as part of the Connection Creation competition element.

The UTD team includes students from the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science; the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics; and the Naveen Jindal School of Management.

"I am incredibly proud of what our team has been able to accomplish this year. With the knowledge we have built up during the past two years, our design has become more robust and more efficient, and helped us grow our technical skills in wind energy," said Fernando Harmjanz, electrical engineering senior and Comet Wind co-captain. The team also advanced to the final round in 2023 and came in fourth place. Comet Wind participated as a noncompeting team in 2022.

"This year we have focused on improving the reliability of our system and learning about industry-grade design work through contacts with industry experience," Harmjanz said. "We have been actively keeping these standards in mind when putting together our final design."

Dr. Todd Griffith, professor of mechanical engineering and the team's faculty advisor, said he is proud of the team's hard work and accomplishments.

"I'm looking forward to returning with our Wind Comets team this year. This group has grown so much across the board in their efforts in educational outreach, wind farm project development and wind turbine design," Griffith said.

Harmjanz said the team is thankful for support from Griffith, Dr. Matthew Gardner, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and the Wind Energy Center, also called UTD Wind.

Public Administration Group Honors Comets

The University of Texas at Dallas' public and nonprofit management program in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences took home several awards from the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) at the group's 2024 conference April 12-16 in Minneapolis.

Teodoro Benavides, associate professor of practice of public and nonprofit management, received the Elmer B. Staats Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Service.

The award, named for a former U.S. comptroller general, honors a public administrator's career accomplishments and contributions to public service and the ASPA.

"I am floored to be awarded the Elmer Staats Award from ASPA, as Mr. Staats is the kind of public servant we all dream of being when we graduate with our public administration degrees," Benavides said. "If I have made but a quarter of all the contributions that Mr. Staats made to public service, my career would be complete."

Public affairs doctoral student Jyoti Aggarwal and public and nonprofit management doctoral student Seongdeok Oh received Wallace O. Keene Conference Scholarships. Dr. Abraham Benavides, professor of public administration, was part of a research team that earned the John Rohr Best Article Award.

Dr. Meghna Sabharwal, professor of public and nonprofit management, public and nonprofit management doctoral student Youngseok Yoon, Diana Al-Fayez PhD'20 and Imane Hijal-Moghrabi PhD'15 won the Garcia-Zamor Best Paper Award from the Section on International and Comparative Administration.

Accolades is an occasional News Center feature that highlights recent accomplishments of The University of Texas at Dallas faculty, students and staff. To submit items for consideration, contact your school's communications manager.