NC State students, research and programs were well-represented at the Appalachian Energy Summit July 10-12 at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. The summit is an annual energy and sustainability-themed gathering of University of North Carolina system schools.
On the summit’s main stage, recent NC State alumna Emery Kiefer and current Ph.D. student Ashish Virmani participated in a panel discussion alongside Amory Lovins, chief scientist at Rocky Mountain Institute.
In the summit’s student poster competition, NC State took home top honors in two categories. NC State student Ashfanoor Kabir won the grand prize in the Ph.D. category for his research entitled, “Multilayer AC Winding: Electric Machine Design Approach for Improved Efficiency.” In the graduate project category, NC State’s Sushant Shetgeri won the grand prize for “Integrated Sustainable Building Design for a Net-Zero Energy Building in Chile.”
During the event, NC State also received a $5,000 summit grant for LEED Lab, a College of Design academic course hosted in partnership with the University Sustainability Office and the Facilities Division. The course provides hands-on experiences in sustainable building evaluation for students from a variety of majors. The grant will fund costs associated with building evaluation and potential sustainability improvements.
Registration for the 2018 Appalachian Energy Summit, including the student poster competition, opens late spring 2018.