ACEP Projects Are A DIRECT Hit At the University of Washington!

ACEP researchers Heike Merkel, Erin Whitney and Chris Pike served as mentors for two student teams from the University of Washington’s Data-Intensive Research Enabling Clean Technologies program as they completed capstone projects focusing on ACEP data applications. DIRECT trains science and engineering graduate students to apply modern data science tools to the traditional aspects of materials design, synthesis and characterization.

One team developed a software package that worked with almost a terabyte of data from four power meters at Poker Flat Research Range. They overcame some daunting data gaps and timestamp mismatch challenges to develop a tool (published on GitHub) that will allow the facility operators to assess options for reducing their utility costs. The UW students who worked on the power meter data project were Atinuke Ademola-Idowu, a Ph.D. candidate in electrical engineering; Chintan Pathak, a Ph.D. candidate in transportation engineering; and Yohan Min, a Ph.D. candidate in built environment.

The other group established a web-based tool that presents solar photovoltaic system performance data from across Alaska in a geolocated format. The tool allows organizations and individuals evaluating their solar opportunities to explore the output of existing solar installations in their region. It will be hosted on ACEP’s Solar Technologies Program web page. The UW students on the solar project were Ge Gu, a master’s degree student in chemical engineering, and Jon Onorato and Zhi Peng, respective Ph.D. and master’s candidates in materials science and engineering.

 

Students stand by their poster describing their project on solar energy in Alaska. Photo by George Roe.