Researcher Spotlight
Jeremy Anderson,a mechanical and energy engneering senior and Navy veteran, has been performing undergraduate research with his mentor, Dr. Matthew J. Traum, since the spring 2010 semester. Their project focuses on alternative energy generation using solar-thermal-fired turbines. It is conducted in collaboration with green energy start-up Solar Logic, a member of UNT’s Discovery Park incubator program.
This joint university-industry research team is showing that solar-thermal energy is competitive with conventional photovoltaic solar power. PV panels function by converting sunlight into electricity at relatively low efficiencies. By contrast, Solar Logic’s solar-fired power cycle uses the sun’s energy to turn a turbine using vaporized fluid, achieving higher efficiency.
Typically, solar-fired power cycles are enormous in scale, taking up many acres. However, among the team’s primary research goals is to decrease the system’s size by reducing the working fluid’s boiling point to enable sunlight energy extraction at low boiling temperature. The benefit of this technique is an efficient system small enough to be installed on rooftops, enabling Solar Logic to compete directly in the roof-mounted PV distributed energy market.
“This research can be applied to commercial-scale organizations where the energy is sold rather than used on site,” Anderson said.
Anderson first met Dr. Traum in an introductory MEE course that motivated him to become involved in undergraduate research. Anderson’s experience working on boilers in the Navy made him an ideal fit for this collaborative project with Solar Logic.
Dr. Traum, a Ph.D. graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, created his undergraduate research program to enable close professor-student interactions and develop close working relationships.
“He does not have an air about him, and he does not treat me like he is better than me,” Anderson said.
Anderson is also the first and only UNT engineering student to participate in the McNair Program, a competitive scholarship offered to top juniors and seniors at select schools around the country.
“When I committed to being a McNair scholar, I agreed to finish through with my Ph.D.,” Anderson said.
He plans to research schools for graduate work while he finishes his undergraduate career.
In addition to his academic research, Anderson leads his own nonprofit organization called Engineering a Sustainable Earth. The organization’s purpose is to lower the access barrier to alternative energy technologies to benefit those lacking the resources to implement these technologies on their own.
E.A.S.E. is currently researching a new kind of solar-fired bio-mass reactor to extract energy from agricultural waste streams. Dr. Traum supports Anderson in E.A.S.E by serving as a board member for the nonprofit.
Outside of school, Anderson has a wife and two daughters. He thinks of school as his full time job.
“I come into school at 8:30 a.m., and I leave to pick up my daughters at 3:30 p.m.,” Anderson said. “I do my studying at night when the kids go to bed.”