Student Research in Energy Systems updated 4.Apr.2005

Each student will plan a research project in fall quarter and carry it out in winter quarter, with one or two classmates. You may continue research projects into spring as a group contract.

RESEARCH ASSIGNMENTS AND PLANNING ON WebX contains folders where you will post all your research assignments online.

Fall	Winter	Spring	Candidate Projects	General info
Research Plan and Proposal	Research Report, Field trips	Contracts and Internships	Your teams and topics	Research Resources

Fall: Your research project will be an active investigation of a real question about a topic or area of interest to you. While a literature review is one important step as you articulate your research question, your project will go far beyond a book report. You will read journal articles in fall, and evaluate and summarize them in your Annotated Bibliography. While learning what is known in your field is an important prerequisite, your goal is to articulate, and try to answer, a truly open question. Scientific investigations are motivated by questions, and are guided by working hypotheses. Once you have articulated your research question and several plausible, testable hypotheses, you will design ways to investigate competing hypotheses. You will finish a Research Proposal fall midquarter (with your team's question, hypotheses, and annotated bibliography), and a Research Plan (with proposed investigations) by the end of fall quarter.

Winter: Your investigations will be carried out in winter quarter, and may consist of laboratory experiments, measurements of your environment, and/or other activities - but not just reading. You will gather data and do calculations as part of your research. You will present a midquarter report as part of the Sustainability Conference on Thus.10.Feb.2005. You will present the results of your investigation at the end of winter quarter. It is common in scientific research to find that the answer to your question was none of your working hypotheses, but something new. This is discovery.

Spring: If you want to continue your investigations in more depth in spring quarter, you may do this in a group Energy Systems contract. This could involve an internship sponsored by your faculty. Perhaps a state agency or local business can use your expertise to answer their energy-related questions. You would make contacts in fall and winter, and plan your spring activities in winter. At the end of winter quarter, you would present, in addition to your research presentation, a formal proposal for your spring work. Such concentrated student research work can be a peak learning experience in your college career, and a springboard to future employment.

General: You should do your research in small teams. Three is an ideal size.

You are strongly encouraged to attend Writing Center workshops throughout the quarter. Follow our program essay guidelines as appropriate, especially the one about never turning in a first draft.

Here are some student research pages from previous programs: Physics of Astronomy, Physical Systems, Energy Systems, and Matter and Motion

Fall Goals

wks 1-4

wk 5

wk 6-8

wk 9

wks 10-11

Fall Goals: * Identify possible research topics of interest  * Learn to search for scientific articles in the library * Find review articles to identify outstanding questions and good resources * Skim many articles in your area of interest, and read the best ones carefully * Articulate a research question * Produce an annotated bibliography of research articles * Propose research to carry out in spring to investigate your question weeks 1-4: Discuss topics of active research in energy systems and sustainability, in the context of lectures, seminars, and workshops. Begin reading journal articles. Week 2: Library research workshop #1. Week 4: Workshop on Questions & Hypotheses. DUE Friday week 4: create a folder for your team on WebX, and articulate your Research Question and Hypotheses. week 5: Library research workshop # 2. Library resources and NASA ADS service. Using Your Sources workshop in the Writing Center. Please read this webpage and linked workshop beforehand. DUE Thursday week 5: your team's Research Proposal, posted on WebX and presented in class. week 6-8: Now that you have chosen your research question, how can you investigate it? What activities or experiments can you undertake in winter? Explore options, and post ideas to your WebX folder. Start writing up a Research Plan with Annotated Bibliography. week 9: Present your final Research Plan in class, post it on WebX, and give your prof a hardcopy. Include:  * Your topic, and what motivates your interest (1-2 paragraphs)  * your Research question(s) * at least 3 hypotheses for each question (primary, alternative, and null hypotheses) * Literature review on your question:  who else is working on this, and what do they think about it? * Strategies for investigating your question, including hands-on tests and quantitative analyses * Plan of activities for winter quarter * Annotated bibliography You will probably need about 5 pages (Word document) or 12-15 slides (Powerpoint) to clearly describe your Research Plan, and 3-5 pages (Word) for your annotated bibliography. Week 10-11: You have no class, so use this time to finish fall planning. * write a timeline for your proposed winter work * start getting resources in place, e.g. ordering equipment from Lab Stores * read your most important resources thoroughly, and start integrating their information into your plans An annotated bibliography includes the full bibliographic reference for each source, plus a few sentences about the content, scope, reliability, and usefulness (to you) of each source.

CANDIDATE RESEARCH PROJECTS: Perhaps you would like to plan and/or build a solar panel, biofuel processor, windmill, or other alternative energy technology for use on campus. Perhaps you would like to work with a green business downtown or state office to help them with one of their projects. Perhaps you have ideas and questions of your own. Here are some new projects that may welcome student involvement. Perhaps you know of other projects where you could help out, and meet some of your learning goals in the process. On the Evergreen Campus: Measure Sustainability Indicators, such as how much energy we use, where it goes, and how Evergreen could be Greener. The Campus Engineer, Rich Davis of Facilities, will talk with us about energy waste and potential for improvement at Evergreen. Facilities technician Patty VanDeWalker will tell us about energy measurements she makes on campus: electrical, water, and steam. Josh Skov, a Greener grad now running his own Good Company to measure sustainability indicators, may be available to advise us on how to analyze data such as Patty's. Karen Purtee, management analyst with the WA State Energy Team, may be available to advise us on how to use our data analyses to recommend improvements at Evergreen, as her team does for other state buildings. On the Evergreen Campus: Solar Panels on the Library? Leon Smith, a Greener grad who manages Climate Solutions at the Energy Center in downtown Olympia, is discussing with Evergreen administrators the possibility of installing solar panels on an Evergreen building. The Library is just beginning its remodel project. Might it make sense to include solar panels on the roof of this or another building? Do we get enough solar radiation to make it worthwhile? There is already a solar radiometer as part of the weather station on the roof of Lab II. Perhaps you could analyze the solar radiation data to help Leon evaluate the feasibility of this idea. Brad Bassett, who manages a local company that provides solar panels and designs, may be available to provide specs and advice. On the Evergreen Campus: Is SEM II meeting its green goals? The new SEM II building was built to maximize energy efficiency, using green technologies and sustainable practices. Nancy Johns in Facilities is gathering data on SEM II to see to what extent we are meeting our LEEDS goals. You may be able to help study our flagship green building. Off campus: A local construction manager and Greener grad, alum of both Energy Systems and Physical Systems, Dan Neelands, has received approval from HUD to exceed the usual approved cost of low-income housing by 10% to include energy-efficient and sustainable design features. Check out the Green Building Council of Portland and Shell Solar, which makes photovoltaic (PV) cells in Portland.

CANDIDATE FIELD TRIPS: Students are invited to help plan field trips to locations such as these, if you are interested. Winter is a good time for field trips, to combat cabin fever. Evergreen's Facilities tunnels and power plant contain impressive systems for controlling the flow of energy, heat, water, steam, and more. See giant fans, generators, transformers, and more. How can these systems be improved to save energy? Climate Solutions, downtown Olympia, has models of straw-bale construction, solar cells, and many other green or sustainable technologies. Centralia Coal Plant provides an inside view of one of the most important current technologies for electricity generation. Bonneville Dam used to be a great place to witness the conversion of gravitational potential energy, via water flow, into megawatts of electric energy. But security has been tight since 11.Sept.2001. Do you know of a hydro plant we can tour inside? The State Legislature Building is installing solar panels on its roof. (Karen Purtee) There are many green houses in the Evergreen area, e.g. those on the Solar Homes Tour. Other ideas? Please bring them up in class!

RESEARCH RESOURCES Let's coordinate our communications with these generous people, to make efficient use of their time. Please talk with Zita and/or your research team before calling. Climate Solutions Karen Purtee Facilities Dan Neelands Brad Bassett         Additional resources (such as Good Company) are available at our Sustainability webpage. www.solarwashington.org - Pamela Burton - info@solarwashington.org 206-222-7113 Puget Sound Energy offers rebates for installation of solar photovoltaic systems - Energy Advisors 1-800-562-1482 www.eere.energy.gov/power/consumer www.nrel.gov/ncpv/ncpv.html www.fsec.ucf.edu/pvt Fall midquarter proposals: 5 minutes each, with 5 minutes for questions and feedback 1:10 Eric - Windmills 2:30 Nanako - Eco-cars 1:20 Tiffany H + Lew - Farm 2:40 Weston 1:30 Jeremiah - ? 2:50 Miles + Dave - Piezoelectrics/thermoelectrics 1:40 Robin + Mark - HEAT 3:00 Devyn + Jeff - solar-powered desalination plant 1:50 Michael 3:10 Jada - Aurorae 2:00 Lara - sustainability on campus 3:20 Alfred - ? 2:10 Break 3:30 break