The grant project is entitled "Unique Opportunities, Local Solutions: User-Centered Design of Marine Energy for Lake Erie” and is led by associate professor of engineering Dr. Jeff Dusek.
Baldwin Wallace University has received a grant in the amount of $499,796 from the US Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office to foster innovation in and tackle the challenges of marine energy, which harnesses the power of waves and currents to produce energy. Relatedly, Baldwin Wallace has also been granted a spot in the 2025 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition, which will give Baldwin Wallace students in the engineering program’s capstone course the opportunity to design a device powered by marine energy.
According to an article on Baldwin Wallace University’s website, Dr. Jeff Dusek, who is an associate professor of engineering and the principal investigator on the project called "Unique Opportunities, Local Solutions: User-Centered Design of Marine Energy for Lake Erie,” is quoted as saying of the grant and the opportunities it will provide the university, "We are honored to be selected for this grant on behalf of BW and the tremendous opportunities it offers to our students, but there is also a greater reach and benefit that extends to Northeast Ohio through our partnership with Cleveland Water Alliance, NETSCo, Freeboard Technology and Argonaut. Lake Erie has great potential in the areas of marine energy and the Great Lakes freshwater Blue Economy. This grant affirms that belief on a national level and showcases Baldwin Wallace as an active contributor in helping to bring these important visions to fruition.”
The grant project will see high student involvement, as it will give Baldwin Wallace University students the opportunity to work with students from the Davis Aerospace & Maritime High School to develop marine energy technologies. Students can take the marine energy course offered via the university’s engineering major, will participate in the nine-month capstone program, and will be able to take part in summer research opportunities.
The capstone program for engineering majors this year will be taking part in the 2025 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition, which is sponsored by the Water Power Technologies Office, with Dr. Dusek and assistant professor of engineering Dr. Jonathon Fagert leading the capstone students as the university’s competition team. Baldwin Wallace is one of 36 teams accepted into this year’s competition. The nine-month long competition will see each participating collegiate team developing and testing a device that relies on marine energy that serves a purpose in the Blue Economy, which includes pursuits like ocean exploration and aquaculture.
According to an article on the US Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office’s website, Matthew Grosso, who is the WPTO acting director, said of the competition, "Our Hydropower and Marine Energy Collegiate Competitions call on the next generation to help these resources fulfill their potential in the clean energy transition. We look forward to seeing the creative and innovative water power concepts these students develop throughout the year."
Work on the teams’ devices began with the Fall 2024 semester. The competition will conclude in the spring at industry events in the spring of 2025.
Engineering major Caely Ressler is one of the team’s captains for the competition. She explained how the competition will offer her fellow team members a unique opportunity that will give them real-life experience in marine energy. Ressler said, "Being so close to Lake Erie, there is ample opportunity for a relevant marine energy solution to be produced by BW and applied to our local community. This competition provides us with a unique framework to grow professionally within the Greater Cleveland community by gaining an understanding of the local climate surrounding marine energy, as well as making local connections and fostering the collaboration that is necessary to succeed in a project and competition such as this. The project will force us to reason through new topics and information while using our technical skills to problem solve, which are processes that will be used by every member of the capstone group in the future.”
Dr. Dusek explained the team’s pursuit and how it will affect Lake Erie and the Blue Economy, saying, "As the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County re-imagine how the public interacts with Lake Erie, there is a tremendous opportunity to include the Blue Economy in the conversation. A key component of BW's participation in this competition is that areas for the Blue Economy will emerge from engagement with local stakeholders. The BW MECC team has benefited greatly from stakeholder interviews with partners, including Cleveland Water Alliance, NETSCo, Great Lakes Data Watershed and our MECC industry mentor, Aisha McKee. The team is pursuing the concept of deploying wave energy devices on the Cleveland Breakwater to feed renewable energy into a downtown microgrid. The effort builds on the unique opportunities in Cleveland presented by the creation of the Cuyahoga Green Energy microgrid utility and draws inspiration from the Port of Cleveland's electrification efforts.”
For more information about Baldwin Wallace University, visit the school’s website.