ENGINEERINGINDUSTRY TRENDS

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Adam Gladen, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at North Dakota State University, Fargo, is leading a Department of Energy grant of approximately $1.74 million to develop a novel thermochemical adsorption material for energy storage. The research team is working to embed a framework of nanocellulose with hygroscopic salt, according to NDSU. The material will be the basis for economical and highly efficient thermal energy storage systems. These alternative energy storage technologies are driven by the need to diversify.

“There’s a real strong push to diversify our energy portfolio,” Gladen said of North Dakota. In March, the state produced 4045% of its electricity from renewable energy sources, much from wind energy. Wind and coal are the state’s two biggest energy producers.

“I feel that we’re task people, tasked to be good stewards of what we’ve been given and that includes our energy resources – natural gas, petroleum, coal, solar, biomass – and using those effectively to help,” Gladen said. “In North Dakota, we see it in our economy – commodity prices go up, it’s booming. Commodity prices go down, North Dakota is hurting. If we can diversify that, it helps mitigate those risks. It’s like diversifying your portfolio.”

Thermal energy storage and electrical energy storage at larger scale are investments that individual states and the country as a whole are investigating. With the explosion in popularity of electric vehicles, engineering students are learning about the need for energy storage and what that could look like.

Another area of Gladen’s research is getting funding for studies on more ambient energy – utilizing low quality, low temperature energy for things like passive energy design and new building envelopes (walls and windows), he said. The intent is to make the envelope retain heat when it’s wanted and let that heat out when it’s not needed.

“The Department of Energy just set up a new thermal energy consortium to try to push that, just set up this year, for transfer of thermal energies,” Gladen said.

With technology advancing at such a rapid pace, engineering students may encoun-

Adam Gladen Jon Markusen

ter challenges in the profession they didn’t have practical experience with in school.

Sanjeev Kumar, dean of engineering at South Dakota State University, has the answer to that. Although students are being trained for future industries and occupations that may not even exist yet, the key is to teach them critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This way, no matter what they encounter, they will be able to break down the problem into smaller parts and work their way through to a solution.

“Engineering is something you can apply to any field – genetics, health care, whatever the topic we can bring engineering to it. It’s already being applied,” Kumar said.

Sanjeev Kumar

Kumar sees the workforce shortage as temporary, and emphasizes the importance of partnering higher education with industry.

“Industry needs to collaborate and we need to collaborate with industry to train our future engineers to take care of the short term issue of the labor force and not lose the focus of the future,” he said.

For those wondering if engineering is the career path for them, Kumar advises students to take math and science courses, as they will open up a world of job opportunities.

“You just bring your passion and if you want to be an engineer, we’ll make sure you become an engineer,” Kumar said.