February 28, 2023 UW–Madison team advances to finals in 2023 wind competition Written By: Chris Hubbuch Departments: Chemical & Biological Engineering|Civil & Environmental Engineering|Electrical & Computer Engineering|Mechanical Engineering Categories: Students A group of students from the University of Wisconsin–Madison will again compete in the nation’s most prominent undergraduate-level wind energy competition for the eighth consecutive year. UW–Madison’s team, known as WiscWind, is one of 13 selected for the second round of the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2023 Collegiate Wind Competition, which aims to prepare college students for jobs in the wind energy workforce through real-world experience. The competition challenges undergraduate teams to develop a wind energy project and design, build, and test a model wind turbine. Participating teams will apply classroom learning to a real-world problem and connect with industry leaders while preparing to enter the wind energy workforce. The finalists were selected from a field of 30 teams based on evaluation of their preliminary design report for a prototype wind turbine, preliminary design report for a hypothetical offshore wind farm site, community education and outreach plan, and a report on the relationships established with members of the wind industry. “I have really enjoyed working with the team this year. We have improved our designs and have worked cohesively, which is very exciting to see,” says Nina Bosnjak, the team’s outreach coordinator. “I’m looking forward to optimizing our turbine and creating our final deliverables to show our hard work throughout this year.” During the second round, teams complete the prototype reports and site designs, build and test their turbine prototypes, and continue to build connections with the wind energy industry and their communities. Phase 2 teams receive additional funding to complete their projects and present them to a panel of judges in May. The team is also involved with the university’s Wisconsin KidWind Challenge, in which teams of middle- and high-school students from across the state participate in a hands-on wind turbine design competition. This year’s competition will take place on Saturday, March 4 at the Discovery Building at the UW–Madison campus. Members of the 2023 WiscWind team will compete against students from 12 other colleges and universities in the Department of Energy’s Collegiate Wind Challenge. Submitted photo. In addition to UW–Madison, the teams invited to the second round of the 2023 CWC are: Brigham Young University California State University Maritime Academy Iowa State University James Madison University Johns Hopkins University Kansas State University Oklahoma State University Texas Tech University (with South Plains Community College) The Pennsylvania State University University of California, Los Angeles University of Colorado Boulder University of Texas at Dallas Featured image caption: WiscWind team members Elijah Asher (left) and Michael Schmich (middle) prepare the team’s model wind turbine for testing, and Nina Bosnjak (right) presents on behalf of the team at the 2022 Collegiate Wind Competition. Credit: Werner Slocum/NREL. A version of this story was originally published by the Wisconsin Energy Institute.