EPSCoR in Iowa:
Harnessing
Energy in the
Biosphere
“As one of the leading wind energy-producing states in the nation,
Iowa is well-positioned to play a central role in the world-wide transition from
fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.”
Innovating Iowa’s Future
Harnessing Energy in the Biosphere
Training the Next Generation
The Experimental Program
to Stimulate Competitive
Research (EPSCoR) is aimed at
building research capacity and
increasing competitiveness for
the state through investments in
infrastructure and human capital.
Through partnerships with Iowa’s
three public universities, industry,
private and community colleges,
school districts, and government
agencies, the program stimulates
lasting research infrastructure
improvements for the State of
Iowa. (http://iowaepscor.org/)
The vision of a 5-year, $20M
EPSCoR project funded by the
National Science Foundation is to
establish Iowa as a leader in the
world-wide transition from fossil
fuels to harnessing renewable
energy sources in the biosphere.
The project is composed of four
distinct platforms: Bioenergy,
Wind Energy, Energy Utilization,
and Energy Policy.
Wind Energy Resource Characterization
An outdoor laboratory will be established
to collect reliable wind speed and
turbulence data for use with computational
models of wind turbine systems.
The Wind Energy platform
of the project will employ
advanced engineering principles
— including fluid dynamics,
machine design, and control
theory — to improve the
reliability of wind turbines.
Drivetrain Design Optimization
Reliability-based design optimization
(RBDO) will be employed to enhance
design of wind turbine drive trains.
Through partnerships with
industry, community colleges,
private colleges, and school
districts, this project will
strengthen the science,
technology, engineering and
math (STEM) pipeline across
Iowa to support the next
generation of scientists and
educators. The goal of these
efforts is to create a highlyskilled workforce that will
meet the demands of Iowa’s
emerging green economy and
will continue to attract new
industries to the state.
Blade Performance and Reliability
Blade health monitoring diagnostics will
be coupled with structural optimization
and failure analysis to advance rotor blade
performance.
Green Energy Grids
Highly adaptive, decentralized electric grid
management techniques compatible with
wind power systems will be developed.
Contact us
Jordan Cohen
State Governance
Committee Chair
VP for Research and
Economic Development
University of Iowa
jordan-cohen@uiowa.edu
Robert Brown
Project Director
Director, Bioeconomy
Institute, Iowa State
University
Mechanical Engineering
rcbrown@iastate.edu
P. Barry Butler
Wind Platform Leader
Co-Project Director
Executive Vice President and
Provost, University of Iowa
Mechanical & Industrial
Engineering
patrick-butler@uiowa.edu
Resource
Characterization
Blade Performance
and Reliability
Drivetrain Design
Optimization
James Buchholz
Mechanical and
Industrial Engineering,
University of Iowa
james-h-buchholz@uiowa.edu
Dionysios Aliprantis
Electrical and Computer
Engineering,
Iowa State University
dali@iastate.edu
Michael Kessler
Materials Science and
Engineering,
Iowa State University
mkessler@iastate.edu
Kyung Choi
Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering,
University of Iowa
kyung-choi@uiowa.edu
Ganesh Rajagopalan
Aerospace Engineering,
Iowa State University
rajagopa@iastate.edu
Shaoping Xiao
Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering,
University of Iowa
shaoping-xiao@uiowa.edu
Song Zhang
Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering,
Iowa State University
song@iastate.edu
Olesya Zhupanska
Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering,
University of Iowa
olesya-zhupanska@uiowa.edu
Green Energy Grids
Yong Chen
Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering,
University of Iowa
yong-chen@uiowa.edu
Christopher Anderson
Agronomy, Iowa State
University
cjames@iastate.edu
Soura Dasgupta
Electrical and Computer
Engineering,
University of Iowa
soura-dasgupta@uiowa.edu
James Buchholz
Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering,
University of Iowa
james-h-buchholz@uiowa.edu
Pavlo Krokhmal
Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering,
University of Iowa
pavlo-krokhmal@uiowa.edu
Andrey Petrov
Geography,
University of Northern Iowa
andrey.petrov@uni.edu
Raghuraman Mudumbai
Electrical and Computer
Engineering,
University of Iowa
raghuraman-mudumbai@
uiowa.edu
Gene Takle
Atmospheric Science,
Iowa State University
gstakle@iastate.edu