Editor: David Mills
ORONO, ME - The University of Maine will host the DeepCwind Consortium's Windstorm Challenge 2012 and Maine Wind Industry Initiative's Fourth Annual Maine Wind Blade Challenge on Friday, April 27 at the New Balance Student Recreation Center on the UMaine campus. The challenges are competitions for middle school and high school students to design, build, implement and test wind power technology components similar to those being used in an extensive UMaine research program in deepwater offshore wind power.
There will be an opening ceremony at 9 a.m. during which UMaine Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Susan J. Hunter will give a keynote address. Students will begin testing their components at 9:30 a.m. Windstorm Challenge teams will be in the recreation center pool.
The closing ceremony will be held at approximately 4 p.m. Final results will be posted on [ http://windstormchallenge.com/ ] http://windstormchallenge.com.
About 425 students and teachers from 40 schools from all over Maine are scheduled to participate in the two events. Schools participating this year those in the cities and towns of Bangor, Madison, South Berwick, Limestone, Lincoln, Farmington, Old Town, Searsport, Gray, Millinocket, Kennebunk, Bath, Boothbay, Caribou, Falmouth, Bingham, Naples and Winthrop.
"These events are the perfect combination of two of Maine’s greatest natural resources: deepwater offshore wind energy and talented students," said Habib Dagher, director of UMaine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center. "Both will usher Maine into the future as the world leader in composites technology and energy independence.”
The Windstorm Challenge is a comprehensive middle and high school invention competition focusing on deepwater offshore wind technology. Developed in partnership with UMaine and the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, Windstorm Challenge asks teams to design and construct a floating platform for a scale model wind turbine, then create a thorough business plan and sales pitch. For more information about the Windstorm Challenge, go to [ http://windstormchallenge.com/ ] http://windstormchallenge.com/ or visit Windstorm Challenge on Facebook.
The Wind Blade Challenge, a program developed by the Maine Composites Alliance in partnership with the Advanced Structures and Composites Center and the Maine Wind Industry Initiative, matches high school students with composites manufacturers inMaine to research, design and manufacture model wind blades. The challenge culminates in a fun competition to see which team invented the most efficient wind blade. For more information about the Wind Blade Challenge, go to [http://mainewindbladechallenge.com/] http://mainewindbladechallenge.com/.
All winning team members who go on to attend UMaine receive a $20,000 paid internship at the Advanced Structures and Composites Center.
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