UMD Student Team to Compete in Radiance Technologies Innovation Bowl Final
A team of students in the A. James Clark School of Engineering advanced to the final round of the Radiance Technologies Innovation Bowl—beating eight college teams in designing an innovative energy harvesting technology—as announced at the 2024 Independence Bowl on ESPN. The “Transverse Terrapins,” a team mentored by Oded Rabin, an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, are developing a parasitic energy harvesting device to capture excess heat produced by high-powered systems such as data centers, lasers or power plants. The team’s technology, which leverages research conducted in Rabin’s laboratory, aims to capture low-grade waste heat, which is generally considered adverse to both the equipment and the environment, and convert it to usable electrical power. “Our entry in the competition exemplifies how engineers can collaborate to address societal challenges. For the students, this is an opportunity to apply classroom concepts, solve technical puzzles, and learn from one another, all while having fun. For UMD, the competition and the TV announcement offer avenues to share our exciting research and educational work with a broad audience,” said Rabin. The Innovation Bowl, an academic competition between schools affiliated with the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl, takes place in a two-phase process. During phase one, teams submit a design idea, and only three proposals are selected to move to the second phase. This year, the Transverse Terrapinswere one of the eleven teams to submit a phase-one proposal. Selected teams later gather to showcase prototypes, simulations, or models that are judged by a panel of experts from Radiance Technologies. The competition, which is sponsored by Radiance Technologies and the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl Foundation, varies on the technological focus each year. At this time, the bowl is focused on technologies for parasitic energy harvesting: systems engineered for capturing of energy from sources that would normally be lost to the environment (such as heat, radiation, vibrations, among others). The entries are judged by subject matter experts from Radiance Technologies based on design criteria of size, weight, power and cost. Team Transverse Terrapins, which includes Ryan Paxson Ph.D.’28, Keegan Guyett Ph.D.’28, Kenneth McAfee Ph.D.’25 and Stefan Popovski ’27, presented their first proposal last November. The finalists were announced on primetime TV by Radiance Technologies’ Chief Technology Officer Peter Weiland during the Independence Bowl. This April, the Transverse Terrapins will face teams from Georgia Southern University and the University of Memphis at the headquarters of Radiance Technologies in Huntsville, Alabama for a chance to win a $25,000 Grand Prize. The team is seeking additional student members and sponsors. Interested parties, please email professor Rabin at oded@umd.edu.
January 17, 2025 Prev |
