Each industry and international university partner brings a unique dimension and key individuals to the WESEP program. This enables students to craft their individualized programs from a menu of options. All of our Project Advisory Board (PAB) members have indicated strong interest in helping to define and participate in student research projects. As a result, we expect internship activities of each student to closely align with their research topic. And because we will offer the RTRC via videostreaming, students will be able to remain “in touch” with the on-campus program while away on their internship or international experience, offering rich opportunities as we blend students and faculty from multiple institutions with industry partners. Students will be matched with various companies for their internship experience via a process organized by industry liaison Dr.Jim McCalley.
International experiences for students are available through collaboration with the five international institutions that include universities in Ireland, Germany, Denmark, China, and Spain. Each student is expected to participate. Partnerships were established based on the complementary nature of these programs with those of Iowa State University, including prior interactions with the centers and their faculty. It is significant that three of these universities are in countries that rank #2 (Germany), #3 (China), and #4 (Spain) behind only the U.S. in terms of total installed wind capacity, with the other two universities in countries that are ranked #1 (Denmark) and #5 (Ireland) in terms of percentage of installed capacity that is wind. Agreements are in place to send a student per year to each university for a three month visit during which time the students will continue to conduct research that complements their thesis topics while taking advantage of the laboratories and expertise at the partner institution, while being introduced to a new culture that may challenge familiar legal, ethical and professional practices. Exchanges are planned whereby students from other institutions will visit Iowa State University at the expense of their home organization.